West Bromwich Albion play host to Stoke City on Sunday afternoon looking to strengthen their hold of a playoff spot in the Championship standings.

At a time when the Baggies sit in fifth position, Stoke are down in 19th place and without a permanent manager at the helm.

Match preview

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While Leicester City and Ipswich Town are clear at the top, Carlos Corberan has been performing one of the best jobs in the second tier during 2023-24 with West Brom.

Off-the-field issues has brought its range of uncertainties, yet West Brom are fifth having collected 35 points from their 21 fixtures in the Championship.

After back-to-back 2-1 defeats to Leicester City and Sunderland, Corberan's side responded with a 2-0 triumph away at struggling Rotherham United in midweek.

That represented just the fourth away win in 11 outings, with the bulk of their points being recorded at The Hawthorns where they have 20 from 10 fixtures.

With just nine goals being conceded during that time, it highlights the size of the task in front of a Stoke squad who recently saw their manager sacked.

On the back of Alex Neil's disappointing stint at the bet365 Stadium, Paul Gallagher will remain in caretaker charge for a second game this weekend.

At one point, it appeared that his first would end with a welcome three points against Swansea City, only for the Welsh outfit to net a last-gasp equaliser to claim a 1-1 draw.

Although Stoke were able to end a four-game losing streak, it was more points lost in their bid to move away from the bottom three, with the current gap standing at two points.

Participating in one of the final games of this particular matchday makes it plausible that the gap will be shortened before they make the short trip to the West Midlands looking to improve on a return of just eight points from 10 away encounters this season.

Team News

Corberan may be prepared to name the same West Brom starting lineup that begun the win at Rotherham in midweek.

Although Jed Wallace was able to return from a shoulder injury to score the second goal, the playmaker may remain among the replacements.

While Semi Ajayi is a contender to earn a recall in defence, Corberan may see no reason to split up the partnership of Kyle Bartley and Cedric Kipre.

Having made five changes for his first game in charge, it is plausible that Gallagher may stick with the majority of the Stoke players that started versus Swansea.

However, Ben Pearson is suspended after collecting 10 yellow cards, which could see Daniel Johnson move inside and Bae Jun-Ho brought into the team.

Junior Tchamadeu featured in an unfamiliar right-wing slot, but he could remain there for a game of this difficulty.

West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Palmer; Furlong, Bartley, Kipre, Townsend; Yokuslu, Mowatt; Diangana, Molumby, Sarmiento; Thomas-Asante

Stoke City possible starting lineup:
Bonham; Hoever, McNally, Rose, Gooch; Laurent, Burger; Tchamadeu, Johnson, Bae; Mmaee

We say: West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Stoke City

While there is less pressure on Stoke's interim management team, the players themselves know that they are fighting for their future. Nevertheless, we still expect the Baggies to come through with a hard-earned win, one which will solidify Stoke as relegation candidates.


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