Southampton to face West Brom ‘worst nightmare’ in Championship play-offs – Don Goodman
Don Goodman says facing off against Carlos Corberan’s West Brom in the play-offs will be a “worst nightmare” scenario for Southampton.
The Saints have fallen off the pace in the race for automatic promotion and now look likely to finish in fourth place in the Championship.
That would mean a two-legged semi-final with West Brom as things stand, with the Baggies having occupied fifth place for the past five months.
Southampton could be 12 points better off than Albion if they win their games in hand, yet they will head into the play-offs on equal footing.
Weighing up West Brom’s chances of success in the play-offs, should they indeed make it, Goodman told West Brom News: “West Brom are in the play-offs and I can’t envisage a scenario that they won’t stay there. In all likelihood it will be Southampton who they face in the semi-finals.
“Southampton are the team to have done the double over West Brom, but they were two different games. At The Hawthorns, Southampton were exceptional.
“But one of West Brom’s best performances of the season came at St Mary’s, where they were really unlucky to lose 2-1. Corberan will make it very difficult for whoever West Bromwich Albion play – whether Southampton or otherwise.
“Corberan’s ability to adapt tactics and make life very difficult for an opponent, it’s your worst nightmare really [for Southampton] given you’ve been so superior to West Brom for the whole season.
“It’s not a game Southampton will be looking forward to if it does pan out that way, but they will be confident still of beating them over two legs, as they have done in the regular season.”
When are the Championship play-offs?
The Championship play-off semi-finals will be contested between 12 May and 17 May, with the final at Wembley pencilled in for 26 May.
There are still six games of the regular season to play – or eight in Southampton’s case due to a fixture backlog – but one of the two Championship play-off semi-finals looks nailed on.
West Brom simply have not budged from fifth place since November after what has been a very consistent run of form. There has been the odd disappointing result every now and then, but Albion have more than showed their quality.
Southampton, meanwhile, are 12 points off the top two – albeit it could be six if they win those games in hand – and will not be caught by West Brom directly behind them.
As Goodman points out, the Saints have had the better of things against Albion this season, but Baggies fans will head into that double-header with plenty of optimism.
Before getting too far ahead of ourselves, though, it is a case of ticking off each game as it comes and making sure there are no unnecessary nerves before claiming a top-six spot.
In other West Brom news, David Prutton has predicted the scoreline of Saturday’s (6 April) clash with Stoke City.
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