The Barclays Premier League champions have made a stuttering start to their league campaign, winning just two of their first five matches to be in eighth and suffered a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of rivals Manchester City last Sunday.
United quickly recovered against Liverpool as Javier Hernandez's close-range strike helped them to victory, and manager David Moyes will be hoping to use that momentum to see off West Brom.
"It's not frustrating," Moyes said of his side's start to the season. "I will sort it. I will fix it. I will turn it around. I have no doubt about that. [Wednesday] was a big game for us. We had lost at Anfield a few weeks ago [1-0 in the Barclays Premier League] and at the Etihad on Sunday, and we wanted to put that right."
Hernandez could start again for United against West Brom, given the injury uncertainty hanging over Robin van Persie (groin). The Netherlands striker, who was the leading scorer in the Barclays Premier League with 26 goals last term, has missed the club's last two matches and is a doubt for Saturday. Midfielder Tom Cleverley also missed Wednesday's win over Liverpool with a knock while Darren Fletcher (illness) is indefinitely sidelined.
After finishing eighth last season, West Brom have started slowly this term, and Steve Clarke's men were dumped out of the Capital One Cup on penalties against Arsenal on Wednesday. They notched their first Barclays Premier League win of the season last week at the fifth attempt as goals from Stephane Sessegnon, Liam Ridgewell and Morgan Amalfitano helped them to a 3-0 victory over Sunderland. Amalfitano, who arrived from Marseille in the transfer window, was influential for West Brom on the wing in an encouraging display for Clarke.
Striker Matej Vydra (hamstring) and midfielder Chris Brunt (groin) could return for the trip to Old Trafford, but goalkeeper Ben Foster (foot) and Zoltan Gera (knee) are long-term absentees.
West Brom have have won just five of 23 Barclays Premier League games in 2013 and will enter the match as underdogs given United's outstanding record against them. They have won 15 of the last 18 meetings between the two clubs, with the other three being draws. West Brom last tasted victory against United in March 1984 when goals from Cyrille Regis and Steve MacKenzie fired them to a 2-0 success.
The last clash between the two sides was highly memorable, as West Brom scored three times in the final 10 minutes in the only ever 5-5 draw in Barclays Premier League history, which was also Sir Alex Ferguson's last match in charge of United.
Manchester United (from): Amos, De Gea, Lindegaard, Buttner, Evans, Evra, Fabio, Ferdinand, Jones, M Keane, Rafael, Smalling, Varela, Vidic, Anderson, Carrick, Cleverley, Fellaini, Giggs, Januzaj, Kagawa, Nani, Valencia, Young, Hernandez, W Keane, Rooney, Van Persie, Welbeck, Zaha.
West Brom (from): Camp, Daniels, Myhill, Dawson, Jones, Lugano, McAuley, Olsson, Popov, Reid, Ridgewell, Tamas, Amalfitano, Brunt, Dorrans, Morrison, Mulumbu, Sessegnon, Thorne, Yacob, Anelka, Anichebe, Berahino, Long, Rosenberg, Sinclair, Vydra.
LAST MEETING : Sat 29 Dec 2012 | Old Trafford
Man Utd 2 [ McAuley(9 OG), Robin Van Persie(90) ]
West Brom 0
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