West Brom area of concern raised by Don Goodman in Premier League promotion battle
Don Goodman believes the lack of goals scored by West Brom over the course of the season is where they fall short on the Championship’s top four.
Albion have been the best of the rest in the second tier this season, with Leicester City, Leeds United, Ipswich Town and Southampton in a league of their own.
While Carlos Corberan has addressed his side’s attacking shortcomings in recent weeks, their goals for tally is still some way below that of those aforementioned four clubs.
Speaking to West Brom News, Goodman said: “Over the course of the season, they’ve conceded 36 goals in 37 games – the third-best defensive record in the division.
“Defending and organisation is not a problem. It’s the other end of the pitch. When you compare their 57 goals to Southampton’s 73, Ipswich’s 74, Leeds’ 68 and Leicester’s 74, it’s quite a gulf in terms of goalscoring.
“It seems ironic saying it on the back of a 4-1 away win at Huddersfield. The goals are starting to come and it’s no coincidence that has come since Mikey Johnston has come into the building.
“They’ve done so well to operate without a natural number nine, who you feel would enhance the goals output.
“Unfortunately for West Brom, that’s the area they’ve suffered particularly badly in terms of injuries. That’s probably the area they’ve been short of those top four clubs.”
West Brom on course for play-off finish in Championship
The unfortunate truth for West Brom is that in most other campaigns, they would still be in contention for automatic promotion at this stage.
Even if Leicester, Leeds, Ipswich and Southampton have had blips, they have set an incredible pace of more than two points per game.
However, finishing fifth is more than anyone associated with West Brom could have expected before a ball was kicked.
The aim for the Baggies over these remaining two months is to keep hold of fifth place and book that play-off spot.
Corberan does seem to have managed to get more goals out of the side of late, most recently when putting four past Huddersfield.
That has come at the expense of clean sheets, with just two in eight games, so it is now about finding a happy medium.
And with Corberan at the helm, there is every chance Albion will be perfectly fine-tuned as we get closer and closer to the play-offs.
In other West Brom news, David Prutton singled out one Albion player as he offered his prediction for the match with Bristol City.
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