West Bromwich Albion square off against Bristol City on Saturday afternoon knowing that victory will keep them very much in the Championship playoff race.
At a time when the Baggies sit down in 12th position, six points adrift of their target, Bristol City are in 18th spot after a prolonged run of inconsistency.
Match preview
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After an uninspiring start to life at The Hawthorns, Steve Bruce must have wondered what he had got himself into by penning an 18-month deal at West Brom.
However, for the first time since December, the Baggies appear to be on an upward trajectory after taking four points off leaders Fulham and third-placed Huddersfield Town.
While West Brom had to fight back from two goals adrift against the latter, they were superb against Fulham on Tuesday night, prevailing 1-0 and keeping a clean sheet against the division's free-scoring pacesetters.
Down in mid-table, West Brom remain considerable outsiders to regain a spot in the playoffs, but another three points at the weekend would leave the teams above them looking over their shoulder.
The West Midlands outfit have also scored in three successive matches for the first time since October, Callum Robinson's decisive strike against Fulham ending a two-and-a-half-month wait for another league goal.
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When Bristol City recorded a shock win at Blackburn Rovers last weekend, supporters would have had high hopes of finally posting two wins in a row for the first time this season.
However, the Robins were second-best against rejuvenated Barnsley, whose two early goals inflicted a 19th Championship defeat of the season on Bristol City.
Now at risk of ending the season no higher than 18th position, Nigel Pearson is aware that his prospects of remaining as Bristol City boss in the long term are low, and he desperately requires a positive response.
Although his team got back on track at Ashton Gate during the middle part of the campaign, consecutive 2-1 defeats have been posted against Coventry City and Birmingham City respectively.
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Team News
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On the back of the disappointing performance at Oakwell, Pearson could make changes to his team with Zak Vyner and Cameron Pring both in contention.
Sam Bell is an option at right wing-back if Pearson decides to use Andreas Weimann further forward, while Alex Scott has shaken off an ankle injury.
However, Joe Williams faces a number of weeks on the sidelines after sustaining a recurrence of a hamstring injury.
Barring any fitness issues, Bruce will almost certainly stick with the West Brom side which performed so impressively against Fulham.
While Daryl Dike is nearing a return from a hamstring injury, Bruce has revealed that the United States international could feature in an Under-23s fixture on Monday rather than being named among the replacements at Ashton Gate.
Bristol City possible starting lineup:
Bentley; Vyner, Klose, Atkinson; Weimann, Scott, James, Massengo, Dasilva; Martin, Semenyo
West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Johnstone; Ajayi, Bartley, Clarke; Furlong, Gardner-Hickman, Livermore, Mowatt, Townsend; Grant, Robinson
We say: Bristol City 1-2 West Bromwich Albion
For all of their inconsistency, Bristol City have shown this season that they are capable of posting surprise wins every so often. However, we do not feel that will be the case at the weekend, with West Brom well set to collect another hard-fought three points away from home.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a West Bromwich Albion win with a probability of 48.84%. A draw had a probability of 25.8% and a win for Bristol City had a probability of 25.32%.
The most likely scoreline for a West Bromwich Albion win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.12%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.27%) and 0-2 (9.17%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.26%), while for a Bristol City win it was 1-0 (8.11%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 4.7% likelihood.
