A key battle at the top end of the Championship table will take place at the Hawthorns Stadium on Saturday, as West Bromwich Albion welcome Hull City.
Both on the back of consecutive victories, the visitors sit fifth, with their hosts tied on 23 points and just outside the playoff spots on goal difference.
Match preview
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West Bromwich Albion will head into the weekend's important contest against Hull City with confidence, having picked up back-to-back wins to climb into the playoff places.
Following a 3-1 defeat away at Birmingham City, the Baggies headed into the recent international break with 16 points on the board from 11 outings, and they have since added seven to that tally in just three more outings, firstly playing out a goalless draw at home to Plymouth Argyle.
Strugglers Queens Park Rangers were the next visitors to the Hawthorns Stadium, and Carlos Corberan's men eventually scored a 2-0 victory thanks to second-half goals from Brandon Thomas-Asante and Grady Diangana, before they most recently travelled to take on Coventry City and triumphed by the same scoreline, with Diangana taking his turn to open the scoring inside 20 minutes before Thomas-Asante also netted his second goal in as many games.
Thanks to that pair of results, the Baggies have now climbed to fifth spot in England's second tier, with thee straight clean sheets having added to their stellar defensive record having now conceded just 14 goals in their 16 matches with only leaders Leicester shipping fewer at this stage, while they only sit a single point behind fourth-placed Southampton and two worse off than third-placed Leeds United.
West Brom do, however, only lead sixth-placed Cardiff City and Saturday's opponents on goal difference and eighth and ninth spots by one point, and they will know that they cannot afford to let up if they are to strengthen their top six place and will now go in search of a fourth straight clean sheet and third straight win to put some distance between themselves and the chasing pack.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, will look for a third win of their own to leapfrog the Baggies and climb back into the top six, having seemingly regained form since the international break.
After enjoying a strong start to the campaign, Liam Rosenior's side experienced somewhat of a dip and headed into the break on 17 points from 11 games, and they were unable to bounce back on their return to action last month, losing 2-1 at home to Southampton.
The Tigers would then arrest their four-match winless run in a trip to Birmingham City, as Liam Delap and Jaden Philogene fired them to a 2-0 victory, before most recently hosting Preston North End last weekend and making it back-to-back three-point hauls with Philogene again on the scoresheet, netting the only goal of the game 22 minutes from time.
Such a result saw the Tigers leapfrog Preston and move back to seventh spot in the Championship, and now only trailing sixth-placed Cardiff City and Saturday's hosts on goal difference, they will aim to climb into the playoff spots with what would be a first win at the Hawthorns since 2008.
Team News
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West Bromwich Albion continue to deal with a long list of injury issues ahead of the weekend's meeting with Hull, as attackers Daryl Dike and Josh Maja are set to remain sidelined alongside John Swift, Jeremy Sarmiento, Adam Reach and Semi Ajayi.
While Corberan is unlikely to make many alterations to the starting XI from Monday's 2-0 away win, Brandon Thomas-Asante should certainly come back in from the outset after his goal off the bench last time out, likely leading the line with support from Jed Wallace and Grady Diangana, who has also scored in consecutive matches.
Reverting to their 3-4-3 shape, Alex Mowatt and Okay Yokuslu are expected to partner up in midfield, while Cedric Kipre, Kyle Bartley and Eric Pieters should certainly form an unchanged back three, having seen out three clean sheets on the bounce in front of goalkeeper Alex Palmer.
Hull City will remain without Regan Slater, who is confined to the treatment room, while fellow midfielder and Liverpool loanee Tyler Morton was a fresh injury concern at the weekend and could again miss out on Saturday with key winger Jaden Philogene also set to miss out having picked up a knock in the week after scoring in back-to-back games.
In their absence, either Ozan Tufan or Greg Docherty could come in to join Jean-Michael Seri in the engine room for the trip to the Hawthorns, while Lewie Coyle, Alfie Jones, Sean McLoughlin and Jacob Greaves should again line up across the back four.
Even without Philogene, there is plenty of competition for attacking spots in Rosenior's 4-2-3-1 setup, with Aaron Connolly vying to return from the outset and Adama Traore hoping to join the front line, while Liam Delap may again get the nod to start up front.
West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Palmer; Kipre, Bartley, Pieters; Pipa, Mowatt, Yokuslu, Phillips; Wallace, Thomas-Asante, Diangana
Hull City possible starting lineup:
Allsop; Coyle, Jones, McLoughlin, Greaves; Seri, Tufan; Traore, Twine, Connolly; Delap
We say: West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Hull City
Both sides possess plenty of quality with momentum behind them, and given how tough to beat both can be, we see a draw as the most likely outcome at the Hawthorns this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Sam Varley
