A look at West Bromwich Albion’s Championship run-in

Play-off ready?

Transcript

00:00 Charlie, on to West Bromwich Albion now. We've mentioned they are in this fight for the back-end

00:07 places of the playoffs. They lost against Sunderland in their previous game. It sort

00:12 of reapplies that pressure into Corbijn's side. How do they go about these final few

00:17 games in the Championship this season to ensure that they are in those top six places?

00:22 I mentioned this in the last call, they need to get back to basics a little bit more again.

00:28 Open goals and entertaining football is obviously very important. But Carlos Corbijn, one of

00:32 the best things he can do is winning 1-0 in matches. He did it so often with Huddersfield

00:36 Town. That's how they got into the playoff positions. It's how they very nearly were

00:40 unlucky not to go up to the Premier League. It's not a critique of Corbijn. They're kind

00:45 of going for it. They've got a bit of confidence. They've got players back from injury, but

00:48 they just need to solidify themselves at the back a bit more again. That red card for Thomas

00:53 Assante, two yellows is frustrating. It meant that Sunderland just had the open goal really

00:58 to get back into that and in the end go on to win the game 1-0. West Bromwick, they fought

01:03 hard. They tried to get a goal back, but they couldn't. That result has brought Hull City

01:09 back into the mix. Looking at the table now, Hull have got a game in hand against Coventry

01:14 City. I think Coventry, if they won that, six points to make up in the final three games

01:19 is too much. But if Hull win it, it's four points. That is probably doable, especially

01:25 because West Brom got to travel to Leicester City at the weekend. Sheffield Wednesday,

01:29 they got a play away from home as well. So they're fighting in the relegation battle.

01:33 Anything can happen there under Danny Roll and then Preston at home on the final day.

01:37 That one should kind of be okay because Preston haven't got much to play for. But the pressure

01:42 is on, especially if Hull City can win that game in hand next Wednesday. See that is happening

01:47 after West Brom have played Leicester. If West Brom win that one, that would be an incredible

01:51 result. That would really sort them out. But I don't see that happening. Leicester need

01:55 to sort themselves out, especially at the King Power, if they want to go in and win

02:00 the title.

02:01 Yeah, and just on West Brom's squad, Thomas Asante, Johnstone, Dean Garner, these players,

02:08 they are good talents. But do you feel they have enough to compete in the top end of this

02:13 championship if they are to make the playoffs?

02:16 I think they do. It's just a matter of consistency, really. And getting rid of these silly mistakes

02:21 defensively. They've definitely got the players. West Brom have got a really good squad. It's

02:26 just the injuries that have really screwed them over this season and not having that

02:29 consistency up top. Thomas Asante has been relied upon a lot. You've got Jed Wallace

02:35 playing as a striker recently because they've not had anyone fit. Josh Madger being back

02:40 should give them a bit of a boost. It's just whether he can get to full sharpness before

02:43 the end of the season.