West Brom named automatic promotion contender after last-second Leicester City defeat by Sky Sports pundit
West Brom “absolutely” have to be included in the race for automatic promotion to the Premier League, according to David Prutton.
The Sky Sports pundit said in his Yorkshire Evening Post column ahead of the clash with Sunderland on 9 December that “having seen what they are capable of” he thinks the Baggies are in the frame for the top two.
Carlos Corberan’s side lost to a 94th-minute winner to Championship leaders Leicester City last weekend and Prutton feels the tightness of the contest shows they are a contender.
Prutton said: “Most of the focus in the automatic promotion race has been on Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Leeds but you absolutely also have to look at the likes of Southampton and West Brom having seen them and having seen what they are capable of.
“The Leicester v West Brom game was very tight up until that last second.”
Contender
It speaks volumes of the job that Corberan has done that he has got the Albion into the conversation with three sides who came down from the top flight last season, with squads from that level and parachute payments.
Ipswich are the anomaly as a side promoted from League One and it is hard to fully do justice to the results Kieran McKenna is managing there.
It will be little solace to the West Brom boss or the fans that they proved their ability against the Foxes at The Hawthorns last week since they came away with nothing, but if they needed it that game should have given the players the belief to back themselves the rest of the way.
That they have got themselves into such a strong position at virtually the half-way stage of the season despite having a relatively thin squad thanks to summer departures, and seemingly-endless injury worries is all the more impressive.
Matt Phillips’ torn hamstring from the Leicester defeat is the latest major blow, and with captain Jed Wallace already out with a shoulder injury things aren’t getting any easier.
And with the January transfer window just three weeks away now and the takeover question rumbling along in the background the market has the potential to make or break the season, depending on who is in charge of the club when it opens, as the threat of key players leaving could make Corberan’s task just that bit too onerous to overcome.
In other West Brom news, the Baggies accept that they might have to let any player in the squad leave during the January window.