At the end of a bruising week for Steve Bruce, it was imperative Newcastle found a way to stem the bleeding. For Bruce, who spent the last few days attempting to extinguish the flames from a leaked training-ground spat with Matt Ritchie, avoiding defeat may have been adequate but a goalless draw extended a sorry run to two wins from their past 18 matches in all competitions. For West Brom, who remain ensconced in the bottom three and eight points adrift of the last safe spot, this represented an opportunity missed.
Bruce made three changes from last weekend’s draw at home to Wolves, with Ryan Fraser and Jeff Hendrick replacing the injured Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almirón, while Paul Dummett was preferred to Jamal Lewis at left-back, the manager citing his experience a valuable commodity in a game of this magnitude. Martin Dubravka continued in goal and Joelinton led the line although often peeled wide to allow Joe Willock to roam into space centrally.
