West Brom vs Blackburn preview: Team news, lineup, prediction
West Brom are kicking off their Championship campaign when they host Blackburn Rovers at The Hawthorns on Saturday (9 August).
Ryan Mason’s tenure at West Brom officially begins, and whilst the unproven manager has plenty to prove to the B13 faithful, and whilst Opta’s supercomputer predicts West Bromto have a successful campaign, we all know that football is played on grass.
It’s been a mixed bag of results for the Baggies in pre-season, but hopefully the groundwork has been laid for Albion to kick off their season on a positive note with the principles that Mason will have been drilling into them in training throughout the summer.
Here, at West Brom News, we predict the Baggies’ opening game of the season as well as provide you with the latest team news and predicted lineup.
Form Guide (Pre-season)
West Brom: WLLD
Blackburn: LWWW
Team news
Marquee signing Aune Heggebo is set to make his debut at the weekend, with Josh Maja still returning from injury and Daryl Dike back injured.
Karlan Grant is expected to lose out to Mikey Johnston out wide, with Isaac Price starting in the engine room.
Aside from Grant’s omission from the starting XI, it is the same side that defeated Rayo Vallecano 3-2 in the Baggies’ final pre-season outing.
Predicted lineup
Heggebo will lead the line with Johnston and Tom Fellows out wide, looking to supply the Norwegian striker.
- Fellows recorded 14 assists in the Championship last season
Alex Mowatt, Price and Jayson Molumby will make up the numbers in Mason’s engine room.
Although Torbjorn Heggem faces an uncertain future, he could partner new arrival Nat Phillips in the centre of defence, with Darnell Furlong and Callum Styles being the two starting full-backs.
After missing out on the signing of Angus Gunn, who recently joined Nottingham Forest, Mason will have to make do with starting Joshua Griffiths in between the sticks for now.
Prediction: West Brom 2-1 Blackburn
Expect The Hawthorns to be rocking at 3pm on Saturday as Shilen Patel will be anxiously watching in the hopes that his managerial appointment brings success with him to the Black Country.
Johnston will remind everyone that he is solely focused on playing for Albion after his move to Flamengo failed by opening the scoring.
Even if Blackburn do manage to pull a goal back, it will be in vain as Phillips will mark his competitive debut for the Baggies with a towering header straight from a set-piece to put three points on the board to kickstart the season.
Sign up for the West Brom News WhatsApp channel and turn on notifications to have all the latest, breaking West Bromwich Albion news sent straight to your phone.