View: West Brom have golden chance to win as Newcastle rocked by triple injury blow
West Brom have found wins hard to come by this season but with Albion in desperate need of three points, a club update may be cause for positivity.
On Thursday, Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce confirmed that star striker Callum Wilson will miss between six and eight weeks of action which rules him out of the Magpies’ game against us on March 6.
As well as missing Wilson, Javier Manquillo and Fabian Schar will miss the clash at The Hawthorns as the Toon’s defence takes another injury hit.
Newcastle struggle without the prolific Wilson with the England striker picking up 10 Premier League goals this season.
Without him on the pitch they struggle.
Between Wilson’s possible replacements this season, Joelinton, Andy Carroll and Dwight Gayle have three Premier League goals between them, one each.
This means that our defenders will have a much easier afternoon compared to if they were dealing with Wilson who is a prolific nuisance.
At the back, the losses of a first-choice centre half and by far the best right-back at the club should have Matheus Pereira and Mbaye Diagne licking their lips.
The central position can be covered fairly well by Jamaal Lascelles and Federico Fernandez but the right-back issue could be exploited by our attackers.
Emil Krafth is the logical Manquillo replacement but he has far from impressed this season and only made six league appearances.
Newcastle are still in a relegation battle despite two recent wins against Everton and Southampton and Big Sam has to target a win against his former side.
We also gave them a very good game in the reverse fixture and we really should have picked up at least a point at St James’ Park.
Welcoming this injury-ravaged side to The Hawthorns should be relished by Allardyce and three points against a relegation rival would do us the world of good as it could drag the Magpies well and truly into the fight.
It looks as if we have been handed a golden opportunity to pick up an easy win here, though we need to be mindful of the talented Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron who both enjoyed themselves when they travelled to the west midlands in the FA Cup last year.
We need some reasons to be positive at the moment and Bruce has provided us with one, we have to take this chance.
In other West Brom news, this is why the club pulled out of a move for Ahmed Musa.
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