Peterborough vs West Brom predicted XI: Gilchrist back in, Townsend test offered

The curtain falls on West Bromwich Albion's pre-season campaign against Peterborough United.

James Morrison's side have enjoyed a superb summer campaign, with three wins from three in pre-season so far.

Sheffield Wednesday, Bromley and most recently Shrewsbury have all been convincingly beaten by the Baggies this summer.

Peterborough stand in West Brom's way of a perfect sweep, but that's going to be a tough ask for the side who've finished 18th in their last two League One seasons.

The last time these two met was in January 2022, when Albion ran out 3-0 winners at The Hawthorns when this fixture was a Championship one.

So, ahead of the final pre-season test, West Brom News attempts to predict how the Baggies will start against Posh this Saturday.

Youngster makes way for West Brom change in defence

With this being the last friendly before West Brom's first competitive fixture of 2026-27 against Rotherham in the League Cup on 8 August, we're expecting Morrison to pick a strong side against Peterborough.

Sticking with his favoured 4-4-2 approach, Max O'Leary is sure to keep his place between the sticks.

However, we are tipping Morrison to make a couple of changes at the back, with this last friendly being an ideal opportunity to take a look at two of his full-backs.

At right-back, 21-year-old Alex Williams drops out to make way for Alfie Gilchrist, with these two potentially swapping again for that aforementioned Rotherham cup clash.

Over on the left, West Brom News has been discussing Conor Townsend's impressive numbers amid his Albion return, and Peterborough feels like a great chance to assess Townsend's fitness before the competitive action begins, and so he could come in for Callum Styles.

As for the two centre-backs, Chris Mepham could provide George Campbell with a rest, and he could be paired alongside Nat Phillips.

So, with a couple of alterations being made to the backline, might Morrison be tempted to make further changes in midfield?

Morrison makes one subtle change to his midfield

Moving across to the middle of the park, Morrison seems to have a fairly firm understanding of what his best unit looks like.

With Mikey Johnston still recovering from injury, Harry Whitwell and Isaac Price should both keep their places down the wings.

However, we're tipping Jayson Molumby to come into the starting lineup in place of Ousmane Diakite, with the latter surely needing some extended minutes soon, with Alex Mowatt to start alongside him.

That just leaves the two strikers to sort out, and that's not a difficult task to complete.

West Brom to keep watering blossoming new strike partnership

The future certainly looks bright for West Brom's goalscoring potential, as has been made clear this pre-season.

Eleven goals have been scored in three matches, and four of those have come via new signing Jimmy-Jay Morgan.

The versatile 20-year-old has been one of the big success stories of Albion's summer campaign, and his brace against Shrewsbury last time out is sure to keep him in the starting lineup against Peterborough.

What Morgan also seems to be doing is getting the best out of Aune Heggebo to, with the Norwegian netting in the wins over Shrewsbury and Bromley respectively.

Those two could be a deadly strike partnership moving forward, and with Barney Stewart also scoring against Bromley, he's sure to push them for minutes all the way.