West Bromwich Albion travel to Championship title-chasing Norwich City this afternoon in what appears to be one of their toughest games of the season to date.
The two sides could not be in more contrasting form, with the Canaries having won all of their last five in the league whilst the Baggies have won once all season.
Steve Bruce will be hoping for an upset, and to work some of his magic on a group of players who currently look devoid of creativity and confidence.
With a couple of injuries and some players vying for a starting spot, the 61-year-old will have plenty of decisions to make when selecting his starting XI today.
With all that in mind, here’s how we think West Brom will line up to face Norwich…
In goal, David Button will continue despite his poor performance against Birmingham City in midweek, when didn’t make a single save in their 3-2 defeat.
We expect to see a full Albion debut for Erik Pieters, who came off the bench on Wednesday when replacing Taylor Gardner-Hickman. The rest of the back four will likely remain unchanged.
A precautionary substitution for Okay Yokuslu last time out will likely see Jake Livermore return to the starting line-up alongside Jayson Molumby, and the two will sit just behind John Swift in the number ten role.
Jed Wallace, who scored their first goal against Birmingham, is expected to continue on the right flank. On the other side, Grady Diangana remains in the team despite a six-game barren streak in front of goal..
That leaves the central striker, where we think Bruce could spring a surprise and drop Karlan Grant. The proven Championship goalscorer has netted 41 times in this division throughout his career, but has just three goals in nine league matches this term.
His expected replacement is the “in form” Brandon Thomas-Asante (in Bruce’s own words), who conversely has two in two games for the Baggies (both as a substitute) and had four goals and two assists in six matches for Salford City in the early weeks of the campaign prior to his move to The Hawthorns.
The 23-year-old seems unstoppable at the moment, and if he continues this form then he will become undroppable.
