West Brom 1 - 3 Newcastle

Newcastle travel to West Brom this weekend aiming to keep their bid for a spot in Europe on track.

The Magpies ended a run of four games without a win with victory over Norwich last time out and they will be looking to close the gap on fifth place Chelsea with victory at the Hawthorns.

West Brom have lost just one of their last five Premier League games and they will be keen to maintain their push for a top-half finish after pulling clear of the drop zone.

The home side welcome back centre-back Jonas Olsson after he missed last weekend's draw at Wigan through suspension.

Olsson's probable recall alongside Gareth McAuley means Liam Ridgewell is likely to revert from central defence to left-back in place of Nicky Shorey.

Albion boss Roy Hodgson is hopeful striker Peter Odemwingie will be fit after missing the 1-1 draw at Wigan last weekend with a hamstring injury.

However, Zoltan Gera (knee) and Steven Reid (foot) remain long-term absentees for the Baggies.

Team news

Newcastle hope to have Cheick Tiote back after he missed last weekend's win over Norwich with a leg problem.

If Tiote recovers in time, Danny Guthrie is likely to drop down to the bench after replacing the Ivorian against Norwich.

Demba Ba, who has scored four goals in two appearances against West Brom, will continue his strike partnership alongside Papiss Cisse.

Magpies boss Alan Pardew is still missing injured quartet Steven Taylor, Ryan Taylor, Leon Best and Sylvain Marveaux.

Possible starting XIs:

West Brom: Foster, Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Scharner, Morrison, Mulumbu, Brunt, Long, Odemwingie.

Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Coloccini, Williamson, Perch, Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Tiote, Gutierrez, Ba, Cisse.

Alan Pardew praised his players after a 3-1 win over West Brom drew Newcastle level on points with fifth-placed Chelsea.

Papiss Cisse notched a brace from assists by Hatem Ben Arfa, who was also on target as the Magpies assumed control at The Hawthorns.

Substitute Shane Long pulled a goal back for the Baggies but the sixth-placed Magpies held on to record back-to-back top-flight wins and draw level on points with Chelsea.

They also moved eight points clear of seventh-placed Liverpool, who they take on next Sunday.

Pardew told Sky Sports: "I just thought we had a real good control of our passing today and our movement was terrific.

Worked well

"But you need outstanding players to win games here and our best player stepped forward today - Hatem Ben Arfa was really, really difficult to play against, some of his runs were incredible.

"And Demba (Ba) and Papiss are going to score goals and I kept saying to the staff, 'we're going to get three goals in a game shortly because we've got so many goalscorers', and today it came."

But the Newcastle boss was quick to praise his squad as a whole.

He added: "We've just got a really good bunch who are trying so hard. To have the same points as Chelsea at this stage is phenomenal, really.

"And you have to take your hats off to the players - they've worked really, really hard."