View: Return of 23y/o a big boost for Baggies as Rowett talks tough ahead of Millwall clash
There aren’t many tougher places to visit for players or fans than The Den and Slaven Bilic will be under no illusion as to the size of the task that faces his side on Sunday.
Only Cardiff have lost fewer games at home than Millwall in the Championship this season and they’ve been one of the form teams since Gary Rowett took over at the end of October.
They were desperately unlucky not to get something out of their game with Leeds last week after going 2-0 up and then buckling under a brilliant second-half comeback.
They’ve beaten Reading, Luton and Brentford in the last three home games and Rowett is confident that they can deliver another shock on Sunday.
Talking in his pre-match press conference on Thursday, Rowett said, “West Brom are a side that can cause you problems with their intensity and they’ve got a lot of experience down the spine of their team. They’ve got some good individual players and a good manager as well.
“We’re always respectful of the opposition but I think you’ve seen it by now that no-one really scares us or makes us think ‘wow, we can’t win that game’.
“You play against a side like that [West Brom] and you can nullify one threat and another threat can pop up and score a goal. That’s what good sides can do. That’s what sides that have got those resources can do – they can have an off day and still win the game based on a moment of quality.
“We’re not fearful. We know what we are and what we’ve got to do. It will be a tough game once again.”
The Baggies got back to winning ways against Luton but scoring – something that we were doing from everywhere on the pitch at the start of the season – has become a real problem recently.
One big boost is that Matheus Pereira is back for the Millwall game after a three-game suspension that was extremely harsh.
He started off the season in fine form and his five goals and 14 assists have helped West Brom to the top of the league.
He’s had nothing in eight games now, though, but he’ll be rested and fired up for the Millwall clash.
Rowett said that West Brom could hit you from anywhere and 23-year-old Pereira could be the player to prove his point on Sunday.
In other West Brom news, Exclusive: Kevin Phillips suggests West Brom star could be unhappy with lack of starts