Carlton Palmer expects West Brom to compete for automatic promotion
West Brom have drawn their last three league games, but Carlton Palmer expects them to still be in contention for automatic promotion in the months ahead.
Valerien Ismael’s side are third in the Championship table after dropping valuable points of recent, and they need to arrest that unimpressive run quickly.
They were held to a 1-1 draw by Preston North End at the weekend following consecutive stalemates against Derby County and Millwall, but Palmer reckons they have more than enough in the tank under the Frenchman.
The former Baggies star told This is Futbol: “I don’t see West Brom not competing at the top end of the table, I’m very impressed with Ismael.
“He knew he was coming in there; he knew he wouldn’t have lots of funds, but he had a decent base to go off because obviously they came down from the Premier League and they’ve kept some really good players.
“But he’s proved at Barnsley he can work on a shoestring and still get into the play-offs, so I expect West Brom to run it very, very close of getting automatic promotion.”
Shaky
Having won four of their opening five Championship games, The Hawthorns outfit hit the ground running on their return to the division, but their recent stuttering form has got the fans worried, and rightly so.
Ismael needs to find a plan B and get his players to execute it well as plan A is not working right now against clubs willing to adapt their style against his.
He did not spend a lot in the summer, but he ended up making some decent signings. West Brom failed to bring in a big-name striker, though, with Jordan Hugill arriving on loan from Norwich City.
With just three goals to their name in the last four games, the Baggies need to get better in the final third as failure to score a lot of goals could hurt their promotion chances going forward.
This squad needs more depth in attack, and they need to get in one or two quality finishers when the transfer window reopens in January.
Ismael’s side need to continue competing at the top end of the table all season if they are serious about promotion, and failure to do that could prove costly.
In other West Brom news, Andy Carroll has responded to claims the Baggies were keen on a January deal.
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