CARDIFF FACING SALA FEE BAN
Baggies on a real high but Potters hit rock-bottom
SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP STOKE (0) 0 WEST BROM (1) 2 Att: 22,360 Phillips 8
Robson-Kanu Pen 69
West Brom Preston Leeds Swansea Nottm Forest Bristol City Sheff Wed Fulham QPR Charlton Hull Birmingham Brentford Cardiff Derby Blackburn Millwall Huddersfield Reading Wigan Luton Middlesbro Barnsley Stoke
P 15 15 15 15 14 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 14 15 15 15 15 15
W 8 8 8 8 7 6 7 6 7 6 6 7 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 2 1 2
D 6 4 4 4 4 7 3 5 2 4 4 1 3 6 6 3 6 4 3 3 2 6 6 2
L 1 3 3 3 3 2 5 4 6 5 5 7 6 4 4 7 5 7 7 8 9 7 8 11
F 28 28 19 20 19 24 19 23 24 21 23 16 18 23 18 19 17 17 16 13 22 11 14 13
A 17 16 8 14 13 21 12 17 28 17 20 20 13 22 20 22 21 21 20 21 27 19 29 27
Pts 30 28 28 28 25 25 24 23 23 22 22 22 21 21 21 18 18 16 15 15 14 12 9 8 (7.45 unless stated)
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Group E
Liverpool v Genk (8)
Napoli v Red Bull Salzburg (8) Group F
Barcelona v Slavia Prague (5.55) Borussia Dortmund v Inter (8) Group G
Lyon v Benfica (8)
Zenit v RB Leipzig (5.55)
Group H
Chelsea v Ajax (8) Valencia v Lille (8)
SKY BET LEAGUE ONE Portsmouth v Southend Rochdale v Ipswich Shrewsbury v Peterborough
EFL TROPHY
Blackpool v Wolves U21 Cambridge U v Arsenal U21 (7.30) Coventry v Southampton U21 Crewe v Everton U21 (7.30) Sunderland v Leicester U21 Wycombe v Fulham U21 VANARAMA NATIONAL Hartlepool v Solihull Moors VANARAMA NORTH Gateshead v Curzon Ashton Brackley v Spennymoor Town Kidderminster v King’s Lynn VANARAMA SOUTH
Hampton & Richmond v Dartford BETVICTOR CENTRAL Peterborough Sports v Lowestoft
2nd T20 INTERNATIONAL Canberra: Australia v Pakistan (8.10)
3rd T20 INTERNATIONAL Nelson: New Zealand v England (1)
WEST BROM stormed back to the top of the league but sorry Stoke remain bottom as these clubs hurtle in opposite directions.
The pair were relegated from the Premier League together in 2018. But whereas Albion are again pushing to return to the top flight, the Potters’ dire season continues to implode.
Slaven Bilic’s cannily assembled side showed a promotion bid need not cost a fortune after this deserved win with goals in either half from Matt Phillips and Hal Robson-Kanu.
Stoke, on the other hand, have managed to squander millions and may even yet end up in League One. They were outclassed at an apathetic bet365 Stadium, despite sacking boss Nathan Jones and making five changes.
The club’s fifth manager in under two years will have a big challenge just to keep the side in the Championship judging by this showing.
It is unlikely to be Preston’s Alex Neil, after North End dug their heels in.
The row has dealt a blow to Stoke’s hopes of a swift appointment in time for Saturday’s trip to Barnsley, with a third return for Tony Pulis even under consideration.
Albion, however, appear in shape and made a bright start.
They took the lead in the eighth minute from a well-worked goal which exposed Stoke’s defensive frailties.
West Ham loanee Grady Diangana instigated the danger on the left, playing a clever one-two with skipper
Jake Livermore before crossing for Phillips to tap in for his sixth of the season.
It was far too easy as Tommy Smith failed to track Diangana and Liam Lindsay switched off at the back post.
Stoke tried to hit back as
Sam Vokes got a header on target. But the Baggies remained the more dangerous side as right-back Darnell Furlong flashed a shot wide from distance.
Stoke at least showed more urgency after the restart with centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers blazing over at the back post.
They introduced James McClean off the bench with the Irishman again declining to wear a poppy on his shirt.
Stoke’s night got worse 21 minutes from time when sub Robson-Kanu scored from the spot after Diangana was clumsily taken out by CarterVickers in front of 2,500 away fans.
Robson-Kanu coolly despatched it with a low left-foot finish for his third of the season before hitting the post with a header.
CARDIFF face a three-window transfer ban if they fail to pay Nantes the first slice of the £15million fee for Emiliano Sala.
The tragic striker (right) died in a plane crash in January while on the way from France to join his new club. FIFA has released the full reasons for its September decision that Cardiff must pay £5.3m.
And if they do not pay within 45 days of receiving bank details from fine
MATCH STATS
STOKE CITY:
WEST BROM:
MOTM
REF:
ATT: the French club then a transfer ban will be triggered.
The Bluebirds are set to lodge an appeal within the next two weeks to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, arguing that the Argentinian was not officially their player at the time.
Pilot David Ibbotson also died in the English Channel crash, which occurred two days after the player’s transfer was announced.