West Brom predicted XI vs Burnley – Diangana to start, Phillips injury doubt
Carlos Corberan will be looking to make it five Sky Bet Championship wins in a row as his side travel to league leaders Burnley at Turf Moor on Friday [20 January].
The Baggies produced a terrific turnaround to keep up their stunning post-World Cup form in their most recent league fixture, coming from two goals down to beat Luton Town 3-2 at Kenilworth Road.
They followed that up with an impressive 4-0 win over Chesterfield in the FA Cup third-round replay earlier this week with Corberan making wholesale changes against the non-league outfit.
And he’ll be expected to change things around once again, with the Spaniard likely to turn to the same side which started last weekend’s action-packed victory.
One change which Corberan may be forced to make for their crucial play-off/promotion clash with Burnley will be at left-wing with Grady Diangana looking to come in to replace Matt Phillips who picked up a knock in the FA Cup replay tie on Tuesday night.
The former West Ham United man will be hoping to reclaim a starting spot this evening and prove his worth after a stop-start season so far where he’s hit three goals and three assists in 25 outings for the Baggies. A good performance against Vincent Kompany’s Burnley could take him a long way to achieving prominence in Corberan’s thinking once again.
As stated previously, West Brom made wholesale changes against Chesterfield but Corberan will be expected to return to his more senior and trusted setup. The likes of Okay Yokuslu, Jed Wallace, Dara O’Shea and Daryl Dike should regain their places in the starting XI.
Kyle Bartley is still unavailable due to a foot injury, meaning either Erik Pieters or Semi Ajayi will partner O’Shea in the middle of the West Brom defence, with Connor Townsend and Darnell Furlong occupying full-back positions.
And the Baggies will also be without key attacking outlet Brandon Thomas Asante who is serving a three-match suspension for elbowing an opponent during the 3-3 draw at Chesterfield earlier this month.
Corberan also revealed that Karlan Grant returned to training earlier this week and will be available for selection for the club’s showdown with the league leaders.
Burnley are yet to lose at Turf Moor in the Championship this season having collected 34 points from just 14 matches in front of their home faithful, an exceptional record which means the Baggies will have to claw out their best performance of the campaign yet if they are to grab all three points and move up to third in the table.
In other West Brom news, Albion are trying to sign this Brighton player on loan.