Manchester City-West Brom Preview

West Bromwich Albion have turned The Hawthorns into a fortress thus far, but Joe Hart, Carlos Tevez and Manchester City have to like their chances of picking that lock Saturday when the two sides meet.

The Baggies (4-2-1) are off to a fast start on the strength of a perfect home mark, taking all 12 points from four victories and recording three clean sheets. Last season, West Brom did not get their fourth league victory at The Hawthorns until beating Chelsea on March 3 - their 13th home match. While remaining perfect at home, the Baggies did concede their first goals at home this season in their most recent match - a 3-2 victory over Queens Park Rangers on Oct. 6 - surviving a nervy finish after conceding an injury-time goal.

Youssouf Mulumbu, who scored what proved to be the match-winner in the 85th minute, is questionable for this match after suffering an injury while playing for the Democratic Republic of Congo during the international break. Of greater concern is the match fitness of Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku, who missed the international matchdays with an ankle injury but did return to full training Thursday.

Lukaku is one of three players with two goals for West Brom, but has played only 217 minutes in six matches this season.

Injuries aside, Baggies manager Steve Clarke is confident his team will turn in a top-effort against the reigning champions and with good reason. West Brom held Manchester City to a scoreless draw in last season's corresponding fixture on Boxing Day to become the first team that season to hold them without a goal.

"What we achieved in the previous season makes it good to remind the players they can stand up to a team of Man City's stature," said Clarke, whose team are sixth in the table and trailing Everton and Spurs on goal difference. "It's the champions coming to our home ground. We look forward to the challenge."

Manchester City (4-3-0) have had little trouble on defence versus the Baggies in league play and enter this match with a 396-minute shutout streak against them dating back to a 4-2 victory April 19, 2009. Goalkeeper Hart has recorded four consecutive clean sheets against West Brom but needed to make only two saves in the two matches last year.

Manager Roberto Mancini's squad enters this match in third place, trailing arch rivals Manchester United on goal difference. City won their last two matches prior to the international break, including a 3-0 romp past Sunderland for Hart's first clean sheet of the season. The England No. 1 helped the Three Lions claim four points in World Cup qualifying on the recess but rued his mistake in Wednesday's 1-1 draw at Poland, when he failed to deal with a corner that led to the home side's equaliser.

''I didn't get there and the lad has done a good header,'' Hart said. ''It's my fault, I probably should have punched it or stayed in goal. I didn't do either and it's probably cost us the three points.''

While Hart likely has the right opponent to regroup, Tevez may have a similar mindset. The Argentine striker, bypassed for international duty, has five goals in four lifetime matches against the Baggies, highlighted by a first-half hat trick in a 3-0 win Feb. 5, 2011.

Tevez also scored a goal in Man City's 4-0 rout at the Etihad Stadium last season.

Man City likely will be without David Silva, who suffered a hamstring injury in Spain's 1-1 draw versus France on Tuesday. Fellow forwards Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli made the most of their callups with goals for Bosnia and Italy, respectively.