Andy Hinchcliffe shares West Brom automatic promotion verdict live on Sky Sports
Andy Hinchliffe fully expects West Brom to finish in the Championship play-off zone this season, but says automatic promotion is out of the question.
The Baggies are fifth ahead of their trip to fellow top-six contenders Cardiff City on Tuesday evening (28 November) after winning four of their past five matches.
Football League expert Hinchcliffe believes West Brom will only get stronger once some key players return to fitness, but he feels there is a ceiling to their potential this season due to the quality of the big three sides.
Speaking on Sky Sports News [28 November, 10:48], Hinchcliffe said: “They’ve only lost two of their last 12 games. The defensive strength is all important for them – they’ve kept eight clean sheets from those 12 games.
“They do need to score a few more goals because they have some decent attacking players. But we’re starting to see key attackers come back, like [John] Swift, [Josh] Maja and [Daryl] Dyke shortly.
“So if they can add that firepower to the Corberan defensive strength game, I feel they can’t be outside of the top six. But the top two may be a bit of a push due to Leeds, Southampton and Leicester being in there.”
Big triple-header ahead
Challenging for promotion this season amid the ongoing behind-the-scenes uncertainty seemed unlikely before a ball was kicked, so full credit to Corberan for getting every last ounce out of this squad.
Even the defeat to Southampton prior to the international break did not dent spirits, as many felt West Brom were good value for a point at St Mary’s.
The gap on the top two is too much to make up, realistically speaking, but finishing anywhere between third and sixth would be a great achievement.
Given the tight nature of the division, though, one bad result could change everything. For example, should Albion lose against Cardiff, they could easily find themselves out of the play-offs.
The trip to South Wales is followed by games against Leicester City and Sunderland, so we will learn a lot more about just how serious Albion are about a Premier League return over the coming fortnight.
In other West Brom news, Chris Lepkowski has rubbished suggestions regarding the takeover situation at The Hawthorns.