View: Quartet to be dropped in four changes – West Brom predicted XI v Leeds
West Brom will want to return to the top of the Championship table at the first available opportunity on New Years Day when they welcome Leeds United to The Hawthorns.
Albion dropped to second in the standings on Sunday as they lost at home to Middlesbrough and Leeds secured a last-gasp 5-4 win against Birmingham City.
Slaven Bilic is predicted to make a few changes to his starting line-up ahead of Leeds’ visit to the Black Country – especially with Kieran Gibbs and Grady Diangana likely to be available.
Bilic confirmed after the loss to Middlesbrough, via the Birmingham Mail, that left-back Gibbs, 30, and on-loan winger Diangana, 21, “should be available” to play against Leeds.
Based on how huge this fixture is, we predict that Bilic will throw the pair straight into his side with Darnell Furlong and Kyle Edwards making way for them.
Bilic could also opt to drop Ahmed Hegazi and reinstate Kyle Bartley in his starting line-up now that the former Swansea centre-back is back to full fitness.
We also expect Romaine Sawyers to return to the side at the expense of Gareth Barry.
As for the rest of the side, first-choice goalkeeper Sam Johnstone is predicted to start in between the sticks behind a back-four of Nathan Ferguson, Semi Ajayi, Bartley and Gibbs.
Sawyers could partner Jake Livermore in the centre of the midfield with Matheus Pereira in the central attacking role, flanked by both Matt Phillips and Diangana.
Hal Robson-Kanu started against Leeds earlier in the season and had one of his best performances in blue and white stripes in the home clash against the Whites last term. The Welshman is likely to spearhead Albion’s attack, rather than Charlie Austin.
West Brom need a win to return to the top of the Championship table and going into the game, they know that Leeds are one of only two teams to beat them in the league this term.
However the Yorkshire club has not won at The Hawthorns since 2002 when Harry Kewell, Lee Bowyer and Mark Viduka were on the scoresheet and both sides were in the Premier League.
In other West Brom news, fans blasted this player for his display against Boro on Sunday.