West Brom: Carlos Corberan risks it as Andi Weimann left out for Grady Diangana v Coventry City
Carlos Corberan has named an unchanged West Brom XI for the visit of Coventry City at the beginning of the official Shilen Patel era.
That could be a risk with key January loan signing Andi Weimann again left on the bench, with Grady Diangana keeping his place in attacking midfield.
The Austrian made an immediate impact upon arriving from Bristol City, netting the winner against Birmingham City on 3 February before following up with an assist and another goal in the next two Championship fixtures.
Callum Marshall hasn’t been trusted yet to lead the line in the absence of any other fit strikers, so the attacking options have been shuffled to put captain Jed Wallace up front once more, and while it is hard to argue against Tom Fellows or another loanee, Celtic’s Mikey Johnston, in the line-up it could be a missed trick to have Weimann on the bench.
West Brom look to kick off Shilen Patel era with victory at The Hawthorns
Games are coming thick and fast so it is a surprise that the manager hasn’t rotated at all, leaving the attack options as is, and giving Erik Pieters another start at the centre of defence.
With the end of Guochuan Lai’s time as majority shareholder now officially over the Baggies will be looking to respond in a more fitting way that the disappointing home defeat to Southampton 24 hours after the original announcement.
After a battling 1-1 draw with Hull City last weekend there is little room for error in the play-off places, so Corberan will want three points here to get his side back on track.
The Albion have been anything but consistent since the start of February, with no consecutive results the same across six separate outings.
For now West Brom remain the best of the rest in a Championship campaign which has seen all four of the teams ahead of them in the table before kick off maintaining an exhausting points-per-game pace.
The takeover uncertainty and endless injury problems, particularly up front, have provided a thoroughly destabilising backdrop to the campaign, and makes the current standings very impressive all the same.
But stumbling at this point, with some of the key off-field questions now finally answered, would be extremely costly.
In other West Brom news, the new owner has revealed grand plans for the future of the Baggies.
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