West Bromwich Albion welcome Coventry City to The Hawthorns in a crucial Sky Bet Championship clash.
Victory will see West Brom climb to fifth in the table, whilst Coventry can improve to 11th in the table with a win.
Team News
Marc Albrighton (pictured) and Nathaniel Chalobah could make their debuts West Brom, after signing on loan and permanent transfer respectively on Deadline Day.
Kyle Bartley (foot) and John Swift (ankle) could both return but Matt Phillips (quad) and Kean Bryan (knee) remain absent
Coventry could hand Sean Maguire a debut appearance after he was named as an eventual unused substitute in their 2-0 win against Huddersfield last weekend.
Kyle McFadzean (calf), Michael Rose (throat) and Tyler Walker (knee) could both return to the matchday squad.
Fankaty Dabo (adductor), Fabio Tavares (Achilles) and Callum O’Hare (knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
West Brom host Coventry at The Hawthorns on Friday 4 February at 8pm GMT, albeit untelevised in UK.
Stat Attack
- West Brom have lost just one of their last five league meetings against Coventry (W2, D2, L1).
- Coventry have won just one of their last six visits to West Brom (W1, D1, L4).
- West Brom have kept clean sheets in five of their last six home meetings against Coventry, except for a 4-2 defeat in December 2007.
- Carlos Corberan’s Baggies have won their six home games in all competitions without conceding (W6), during which they scored 13 goals.
- Coventry have had nine separate players red carded in their last three away matches (L2).
Prediction
Having seen their resurgent form hit a rut with consecutive defeats in the past fortnight across league and FA Cup respectively, West Brom now need to reset and rediscover their best spark especially after a defensive disaster in their cup loss at Bristol City with poor marking on top of awful end product.
Coventry meanwhile battled past Huddersfield with a clinical performance to end their six-match winless run but with the play-off race currently tight, the Sky Blues now need to kick on and replicate last weekend’s performance if want to put themselves right into the mix.
Corberan’s Baggies though are in strong home form with six consecutive wins without conceding but I do see that partially ending, such is Coventry’s strong goal threat but this does feel like a home win if West Brom can bounce back otherwise it should be a draw at minimum.
Prediction: WBA 1-1 Coventry
Result: WBA 1-0 Coventry