View: Lightning restart by Wednesday ace highlights clear danger for West Brom
There is no hiding from the fact that the game against Sheffield Wednesday is a must-win match for West Brom at Hillsborough.
The Baggies have endured a disastrous restart to the Championship season, failing to score a single goal and picking up one point from a possible six.
That has seen their gap to the play-offs shrink to five points, and with Brentford playing the night before, that could be two by the time Albion run out in South Yorkshire.
It may be a must-win game for the Baggies, but it is going to be far from easy to go and collect all three points from the Owls.
Wednesday made it a great restart on Sunday afternoon, following up their 1-1 draw with Forest with a 2-1 victory away at Bristol City.
If West Brom are struggling to score, Conor Wickham certainly isn’t. The striker has found the back of the net in both games after the restart and has become a real threat for Garry Monk.
His power and strength on and off the ball has become a real weapon and whichever defensive pairing Slaven Bilic chooses will have to be fully aware of that.
Looking at Wickham’s performance against Bristol City on Sunday, you can see where his strengths are.
The 27-year-old had three shots on goal and won six of his aerial duels against the Robins according to WhoScored, as he bullied the likes of Ashley Williams.
Wickham’s physicality allows the likes of Jordan Rhodes and Jacob Murphy to overlap him into dangerous areas in the final third, similar to how Brentford exploited the Baggies on Friday.
The towering forward is a clear danger, and his recent form will fill him with confidence and he must be stopped by the Baggies if they want three points.
In other West Brom news, this reliable journalist has claimed that Albion are definitely in the hunt for this two-time Premier League winner
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