West Bromwich Albion play host to Coventry City on Friday evening with the opportunity to open up a seven-point advantage in the race for a Championship playoff spot.
However, at a time when the Baggies sit in fifth position in the standings, Coventry are ninth and have the chance to move to within two points of their opponents.
Match preview
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Some would argue that West Brom's position in the top six of the Championship is an anomaly, with Carlos Corberan's side having not recorded more two successive wins since back in November.
Nevertheless, West Brom have also not suffered successive defeats since December and consistently adding points to their total has taken advantage of the mixed results of their rivals.
More recently, Corberan's side have collected 11 points from six matches, a period that has included away draws at the likes of Ipswich Town and Hull City.
Corberan would have been content with the 1-1 share of the spoils at the Tigers last time out, with West Brom coming from behind just four days after they had made the long trip to Plymouth Argyle and returned to base with a 3-0 victory.
The aim now is to get back to winning ways at The Hawthorns, with five wins in a row having been posted before they lost 2-0 to Southampton on February 16.
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Meanwhile, Coventry return to league action just four days after they ended the hopes and dreams of National League South side Maidstone United in the FA Cup fifth round.
Unlike Ipswich in the previous round, Coventry were ruthless against the sixth-tier outfit, with Ellis Simms scoring a first-half hat-trick as the Sky Blues prevailed by a 5-0 scoreline.
Mark Robins needed that level of response from his team after they had suffered a 3-0 defeat to Preston North End at the CBS Arena three days earlier, just their second defeat at home in the league this season.
With the teams sitting in fifth to eighth all avoiding defeat, it meant that Coventry lost ground in the playoff race, but success in the West Midlands will bring West Brom back into the pack ahead of the weekend's fixtures.
Team News
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With Brandon Thomas-Asante joining Daryl Dike and Josh Maja on the sidelines, West Brom could again line up with Jed Wallace down the middle of the attack.
John Swift and Andreas Weimann are alternatives to take on such a role, but Corberan may be against making many alterations from the team that earned a point at Hull.
Semi Ajayi could get the nod over Erik Pieters in the middle of the defence having not started since returning from representing Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Kasey Palmer impressed for Coventry against Maidstone earlier this week and could keep his place ahead of Callum O'Hare.
Fabio Tavares is pushing for just a second Championship start this campaign after his two goals in Monday's game, although Milan van Ewijk is another option to be used further forward after Tatsuhiro Sakamoto's season-ending back injury.
West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Palmer; Furlong, Kipre, Pieters, Townsend; Yokuslu, Mowatt; Fellows, Diangana, Johnston; Wallace
Coventry City possible starting lineup:
Wilson; Latibeaudiere, Thomas, Kitching, Bidwell; Torp, Kelly; Tavares, Palmer, Wright; Simms
We say: West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Coventry City
With both teams generally in good form, this should inevitably be a competitive tussle as both teams understand the potential importance of posting three points. While we make West Brom the favourites, Coventry can only have benefitted from the game on Monday night, leading us to predict a hard-earned share of the spoils.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Darren Plant
