West Bromwich Albion welcome Blackburn Rovers to The Hawthorns in Monday Night Football from the Sky Bet Championship.
Victory will see West Brom climb to seventh in the table, whereas Blackburn will stay third with a win but close the gap to second-placed Bournemouth down to just two points.
Team News
Jake Livermore is suspended for West Brom after their appeal against his red card in their 2-0 midweek defeat at Sheffield United proved unsuccessful, meaning that he is banned for their next four matches.
Matt Phillips (foot) is a doubt but Kyle Bartley (illness), Kean Bryan (knee) and Daryl Dike (hamstring) remain absent.
Blackburn will be without Darragh Lenihan after he was red carded in Wednesday’s loss to Nottingham Forest.
Harry Pickering (hamstring) could return whilst Deyovaisio Zeefuik (cramp) is a doubt.
Stat Attack
- West Brom are unbeaten in four of their last five meetings against Blackburn (W2, D2, L1).
- Blackburn have claimed just six points out of a possible 21 points from their last seven visits to West Brom (W1, D3, L3).
- Rovers’ Lewis Travis has been yellow carded in each of his last three appearances against West Brom.
- West Brom are looking to avoid going four consecutive matches without a goal since February-June 2020.
- Blackburn are looking to avoid a fourth straight match without scoring for the first time since 14 December 2015 – 2 January 2016.
Prediction
Having lost their last three matches by 2-0 results and starting to get cut adrift of the battle to secure a play-off spot, West Brom definitely need a reaction here because they played well at Sheffield Utd but ultimately just didn’t take their chances which has been common lately.
Blackburn likewise have hit a similar rut but should feel harshly unlucky to have not scored in their midweek loss against Forest, especially after being more accurate but lacked that clinical touch which proved costly in the end.
This game is therefore a tough one to call because I can see both teams being happy with a score draw to halt their goalscoring rut, especially with two key players in Livermore and Lenihan both suspended but this is a must-win for the promotion hopes of both teams.
On that note, both teams have to go for it and this is Steve Bruce’s first home match as West Brom manager, so I expect the home crowd to provide the team with a morale boost but their defence must improve if they’re to win this.
Prediction: WBA 1-1 Blackburn
Result: WBA 0-0 Blackburn