West Brom: Foster, Dawson, McAuley, Olsson, Evans, Gardner, Yacob, Fletcher, McClean, Sessegnon, Rondon. Subs: Chester, Anichebe, Myhill, Pocognoli, Lambert, Berahino, McManaman. 

Aston Villa: Bunn, Bacuna, Okore, Lescott, Richards, Cissokho, Gil, Westwood, Gana, Ayew, Kozak. Subs: Guzan, Clark, Sinclair, Veretout, Lyden, Gestede, Grealish. 

Referee: Robert Madley (West Yorkshire)

Ged Scott
BBC Sport at The Hawthorns

"Not only are Albion 15 points better off than Villa in.the table, they appear to be heavily outnumbering their oldest local rivals in the celebrity fan department.

"A quick count-up of heads before the game served up Frank Skinner, Adrian Chiles and former world super middleweight boxing champion Richie Woodhall. 3-0 to the Albion. Is that an omen?"

One woman is already praying to the murky West Midlands sky. And she's an Albion fan. They must be on their knees in the Villa end.

Darren Fletcher and Micah Richards - for long on the opposite sides of Manchester derbies - lead the two teams out.

Simon Brotherton
Match of the Day commentator

"A 2-1 home win over West Brom last season gave Tim Sherwood his first victory as Aston Villa's manager - helping to spark their successful fight against relegation.

"A similar result at The Hawthorns this weekend would be Remi Garde's first away win since taking over, and perhaps give them a faint glimmer of hope.

"But these are difficult days for those of a claret and blue persuasion and the club's hierarchy were not surprisingly grilled by fans at the Supporters Trust AGM this week.  , external

"Matches between these two clubs always seem to be close and there's nothing to suggest anything different this time, with Albion looking to do the double over Villa in the top flight for the first time in just over 50 years."

John Hartson
Former Wales striker on BBC Radio 5 live

"Deep down they have come to the realisation at Villa that they are down. They are preparing for the Championship.

"Even the realistic fans know they are as good as doomed. Why go and spend a load of money this month when they know they are down?"

The solitary Villa mascot looks pretty bored as he rests his head on the handrail on the stairs from the dressing room to the tunnel. The poor little lad is well outnumbered. Albion have a full team of mascots opposite him - hope they don't have a half-time kickabout, otherwise he'll be on the end of a pasting.

Plenty of noise coming from the away end as a few youthful-looking male Villa fans take great delight in winding up the nearest Albion fans. 

David Bowie's classic 'Heroes' is blasting out of the Hawthorns' sound system as the two sets of players emerge from the dressing room.

John Hartson
Former Wales striker on Football Focus

"His head looks shot to bits. He needs to play but obviously his head is not in the right place and Tony Pulis sees it that way."

Kevin Kilbane
Ex-Everton winger on Football Focus

"Saido Berahino has got to knuckle down and  get in the position to play. He has to sort himself out."

Image source, Getty Images

It's a saga that has occupied two transfer windows. Will Saido Berahino finally leave Albion this month? BBC Sport's Pat Murphy analyses the situation...

Few boos for Albion's ex-Villa midfielder Craig Gardner as the names of the two sides are read out.

Albion's unsettled striker Saido Berahino, back on the bench today, fancies a bash in the goal as the players warm-up. But he ducks under the ball. Let's hope Ben Foster doesn't take that approach...

Villa are enjoying a mini-revival (Enjoying?! Not really, but you know what I mean) having not lost in four matches. Two of them were only against League Two side Wycombe in the FA Cup, but not losing breeds confidence, etc, etc.

Victory against Crystal Palace and a draw at high-flying Leicester gives Villa some hope of beating the drop - as would a big win at The Hawthorns.

Hello! The gentle ribbing in the office has stopped - it is time to get down to business.

West Brom already have one win against Villa to their name this season and another will wrap up their first top-flight double in 51 years.

More importantly, a home win will crash another nail into the Villa coffin.

Are the nerves kicking in yet? They should be. Less than four miles separates The Hawthorns and Villa Park - but the trip back feels like a long and arduous one if the away team lose.

And, quite simply, Aston Villa daren't lose today...

England goalkeeper Ben Foster has played a couple of FA Cup games after returning from a long-term knee injury, but today makes his first Premier League start since March.

Albion manager Tony Pulis makes two changes from the midweek win at Bristol City. Skipper Darren Fletcher and Swedish defender Jonas Olsson shake off knocks to start, with Victor Anichebe and Chris Brunt dropping out.

Image source, Opta

All change for Villa from the much-needed FA Cup win against Wycombe. Eight switches with former England defender Joleon Lescott and Czech striker Libor Kozak among the returning faces.

Image source, .

It's one of those winter Saturdays where you wake up before daylight is even beginning to appear. 

It's one of those winter Saturdays where you know you could probably do with an extra hour's lie-in but you can't get back to sleep because the adrenaline is pumping. 

It's one of those winter Saturdays where you jump out of bed, grab your replica shirt and head out early to meet your mates ahead of kick-off.

In the West Midlands, it's one of those winter Saturdays when it is derby day.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Welcome to our live page for West Brom v Aston Villa. We’ll have text commentary here from 14:30 GMT. You can keep up to date with all the build-up to today’s games here.