Danny Wright

Wed 8 July 2020 16:01, UK

West Brom manager Slaven Bilic has made four changes to his starting line-up ahead of Albion’s showdown with Derby County at The Hawthorns on Wednesday.

Albion confirmed via their official Twitter account an hour before kick-off that Conor Townsend, Semi Ajayi, Grady Diangana and Jake Livermore have all returned to the side.

Ahmed Hegazi is suspended and Kieran Gibbs is injured, meaning two of Bilic’s changes were forced.

In the other changes, Livermore is back to full fitness to captain the side versus Derby but midfielder Rekeem Harper has been dropped to accommodate him while Grady Diangana replaces Filip Krovinovic.

And, for the first time since arriving in January, Lee Peltier has made a matchday squad as he features on the bench.

West Brom go into the match against Derby having won their last two matches and scoring seven goals in the process.

Brentford moved within two points of the Baggies with their win against Charlton on Tuesday so a victory versus the Rams is a must for Bilic and his men.

However Albion do not have the best of records against the East Midlands outfit with them winning just one of their last seven meetings with them.

Earlier this season, West Brom were held to a 1-1 draw at Pride Park with Kenneth Zohore’s late penalty managing to rescue a point for the West Midlands club.

We will need to see a better result than that at The Hawthorns.

Three points would see Albion move top of the Championship table, at least until Thursday when Leeds play Stoke.

But, more importantly, a victory would re-establish the five-point gap between second and third-placed Brentford, who are breathing down the neck of the top-two with their fine form since the restart.

In other West Brom news, Albion fans have hit out at Nathan Ferguson for his tweet about the latest contract news at The Hawthorns.

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