West Brom predicted XI vs Bristol City – Thomas-Asante returns, Rogic and Livermore to start
West Bromwich Albion travel to Bristol City for the FA Cup fourth round looking to return back to winning ways on Saturday afternoon [28 January].
Both teams required third-round replays to reach this stage of the competition, with the Baggies overcoming non-league side Chesterfield at The Hawthorns and the Robins narrowly getting the better of Swansea City.
Albion, five-time winners of the FA Cup, will be hoping to progress beyond Bristol City and reach the fifth round for the first time since the 2019/20 campaign.
The two teams met a month ago on Boxing Day in the Sky Bet Championship with the Baggies running out 2-0 winners at Ashton Gate thanks to goals from Matthew Phillips and Brandon Thomas-Asante.
And the latter could well haunt them once again for this FA Cup clash as he has now served his three-match suspension and will almost certainly come into the side in place of Daryl Dike, who continues to be managed by Corberan and the club’s medical staff.
With a crucial promotion-chasing clash with Coventry to come on February 3, Carlos Corberan will be looking to make some changes from their narrow 2-1 defeat to Burnley last weekend.
With Phillips injured, the forward line could look similar to the one which lined up against Chesterfield in the original tie at the beginning of the month; it’s plausible that Rogic will play behind Thomas-Asante, with Karlan Grant and Grady Diangana keeping his place after starting against Burnley.
Tom Rogic is likely to come in place of the industrious John Swift, as could Adam Reach and Jake Livermore be given a run out against their Championship opponents this weekend. Jayson Molumby may be relied upon again to keep things ticking in midfield alongside Livermore.
Reach will more than likely replace Conor Townsend at left-back, whilst youngster Taylor Gardner-Hickman will be rewarded with another opportunity to impress Corberan in place of Darnell Furlong at right-back.
Martin Kelly and Semi Ajayi will likely start in central defence in front of David Button in goal.
Corberan will be expecting the same intensity and quality from his side despite the changes, and the Baggies cannot afford to be complacent against a Bristol City side who will be well up for this FA Cup clash in front of their home fans.
In other West Brom news, Ron Gourlay meets with concerned Baggies fans to discuss Guochuan Lai’s failure to repay the loan.