Anthony Onifade

Fri 17 February 2023 11:03, UK

West Brom will be looking to return back to winning ways in the Sky Bet Championship and into the top six when they travel to Vicarage Road [20 February] to take on playoff rivals Watford.

The Baggies missed the chance to move into the playoff places on Wednesday after a late Ben Brereton Diaz equaliser from a free-kick meant Carlos Corberan dropped an important two points on their quest for promotion back to the Premier League.

The result leaves Albion just two points outside the top six and off Monday’s opponents, and both teams could find themselves outside the coveted places by the time they meet on Monday evening, which makes for a cracking contest.

Ahead of the tie, Corberan has huge decisions to make in regard to his team setup against a difficult opponent.

January signing Nathaniel Chalobah left the field against Blackburn with a knock but the Spaniard has confirmed that the former Chelsea midfielder should be okay to feature against Watford which comes as promising news to the Baggies camp.

Also, Corberan has confirmed he’ll most likely stick with Josh Griffiths in the Albion goal for the next upcoming games, with the 21-year-old making his debut against Blackburn in place of the struggling David Button, and the youngster could arguably have done better with Diaz’ late equaliser.

However, Griffiths did impress in general though, and as confirmed by Corberan, the former Portsmouth loanee will remain in between the sticks for Monday’s game.

The defence is likely to remain the same with Conor Townsend and Darnell Furlong in the full-back positions flanking the impressive Erik Pieters and Dara O’Shea at centre-back.

Jayson Molumby is most likely to return to the set-up in place of Chalobah after his opener against Blackburn Rovers, but it’s in attack where Corberan will be mulling most over.

Another one of his winter additions Marc Albrighton has struggled to make an instant impression in his three games so far and the Spaniard is likely to axe him which could potentially see the return of Grady Diangana to the team alongside John Swift and Jed Wallace in the attack.

Corberan will also most likely stick with Brandon Thomas-Asante up front who looked sharp at The Hawthorns on Wednesday instead of the out-of-form Daryl Dike.

West Brom were in fine form last month, but the wheels have come off recently. They’ve won just one of their last five games in all competitions and lost their last three away games. Can Corberan’s men pick up a crucial and morale-boosting win on Monday?

In other West Brom news, Albion pulled the plug on a late loan signing on deadline day.