David Prutton predicts result of West Brom clash v Nottingham Forest
David Prutton believes all talk of a late surge to the playoffs for West Brom will be put to bed on Monday when they face Nottingham Forest.
The Baggies face off against Nottingham Forest with just five points separating them from the top six at the start of the day, with four games remaining.
But after a poor performance in their win over Blackpool on Friday and Forest losing to Luton, Prutton told Sky Sports that he feels the hosts will want to ‘put the record straight’ and will come away with a 2-0 win to end West Brom’s playoff hopes.
“That narrow defeat to Luton on Friday will have hurt Forest, who were riding high after winning five games on the trot before that,” he said.
“It is clear to see they will be out to put the record straight and make sure they finish inside the top six, with their place far from secure.
“A cautiously optimistic West Brom boss Steve Bruce has asked the question: “In football anything can happen. But I still think we have too much to do. It’s still ‘what if?'”.
“The Baggies have been written off as late play-off contenders by many, but I think Monday’s game will well and truly put any talk to bed.”
Puncher’s chance
You’d be hard pressed to find anyone with any connection to West Brom who feels as though this current team has an actual chance of making the playoffs.
The season didn’t start too badly but an awful lull from mid-season onwards has seen their hopes of going straight back to the Premier League go to the back-burner.
Now it’s all about experimenting and building for next season and getting a head-start on plans for next year, rather than really pushing for anything in particular now.
A win would undoubtedly see them in with a puncher’s chance and hopes would rise, but it would still be a tough and unlikely task in the remaining three games for everything to fall their way.
Forest are well in the race and with Bruce likely to mix things up once again with the starting line-up, a defeat isn’t out of the question.
In other West Brom news, View: Bruce continues experiments, five changes – Predicted West Brom XI v Nottingham Forest
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