Ipswich Town travel to the Hawthorns for their Championship clash with play-off hopefuls West Brom this afternoon (5:30pm). Alex Jones takes a look at the Baggies.
The story so far
West Brom have been flying under the radar a little bit, firmly chasing the title of ‘best of the rest’.
Cracking the top two, or even the top four, looks ambitious. They’re already 13 points behind Town and four off in-form Southampton, who beat them 2-1 before the international break.
Before that somewhat unfortunate defeat, the Baggies had put together an impressive run. They started the campaign with a defeat to Blackburn Rovers before beating Swansea City and Middlesbrough while also earning a point against Leeds at Elland Road.
A home defeat to Huddersfield Town – which remains their only loss on home soil so far this season – derailed them. It clearly knocked their confidence, as they went on to register three successive draws against Bristol City, Watford and Millwall.
A trip to Preston North End came next, which looked daunting given their league position at the end of September, but West Brom comfortably swatted them aside in a 4-0 rout at Deepdale.
That kickstarted the aforementioned hot streak. A 3-1 defeat to Birmingham City and a stalemate at home to Plymouth Argyle held them back from really kicking on, but wins against Sheffield Wednesday, QPR and Hull City have lifted them right up into the play-off mix.
They now occupy seventh place, sitting behind Sunderland on goal difference alone. A win against Ipswich could lift them up to fifth if results elsewhere go their way, and they’ll certainly be confident given their imperious home form and their solid defensive record.
Star players
West Brom boast a number of experienced Premier League players, many of whom featured in the top flight for the Baggies. They’ve kept the core of their squad together, which has allowed them to consistently challenge at the top end of the Championship amid rumoured financial issues.
As a result, their summer recruitment was low key. Former Sunderland, Fulham and Stoke City striker Josh Maja joined on a free transfer, while Ecuadioran starlet Jeremy Sarmiento and ex-Huddersfield Town wing-back Pipa joined on loan from Brighton and Ludogorets respectively – the latter of whom worked with Carlos Corberan at West Brom.
The standout players were mostly signed the previous summer, when the Baggies had a bit more cash to burn. Jed Wallace was the face of their transfer business, joining on a free transfer from Millwall, but John Swift quickly became the fan favourite, scoring seven goals and providing 10 assists in 2022/23. He’s already found the back of the net six times this season, making him West Brom’s top scorer after 11 games.
Grady Diangana, who joined from West Ham for a reported fee of up to £18 million back in 2020, is finally finding some form, with two goals and three assists to his name this season, while midfielder Alex Mowatt has impressed supporters since returning from a bizarre loan spell at Middlesbrough.
Their back line shouldn’t go without a mention either. Conor Townsend, Kyle Bartley and Darnell Furlong, who all started against Southampton before the international break, were heavily involved in West Brom’s last Premier League campaign in 2020/21.
Goalkeeper Alex Palmer, who surprisingly turned down a move to Luton Town over the summer, has kept seven clean sheets in 16 games, saving a penalty against Millwall.
A bizarre tactical switch
Widely known for their defensive strength, West Brom have had to make sacrifices elsewhere on the pitch. Corberan started with a 4-2-3-1 formation in their opening-day defeat to Blackburn and quickly changed to a back five, which shored things up.
Whether it was a 5-3-2 or a 5-2-3, the Baggies finally seemed to find the right balance after their goalless draw against Millwall. However, they switched things up for their 3-1 win against Hull City at the start of November, moving to a 4-4-2.
It was a bizarre change, one that didn’t seem to fit with Corberan’s style. From the outside, it looked quite open, yet they comfortably saw off the Tigers despite registering just 37% possession.
They used the same system against Southampton, matching Russell Martin’s side in their formation. Although they were beaten, they registered an xG [expected goals] of 2.12, consistently threatening from set pieces.
In theory, playing a 4-4-2 against Ipswich could be a kamikaze move. The Blues have the attacking quality to pick off even the best defensive sides in the division, and there are signs that West Brom are trying to move away from that. Whether Corberan sticks or twists remains to be seen.
Corberan on Town
Like most Championship managers, Corberan has been very complimentary about Ipswich.
He’s yet to face Kieran McKenna in his managerial career, but the Spaniard can see how the work they’ve put in has paid off, highlighting their “stability” as a big reason for their success to far this season.
“We are going to manage this game with the same level of respect that we manage every single game with,” he said.
“We know Ipswich are in the position they are in because they are doing very good things.
“They have only lost one league game all season and they have been competing in a very good way with a lot of stability. They clearly have a great understanding of the way they want to play.
“It’s our next challenge and every game is a challenge. You have challenges against teams in both bad and good positions in this league.
“We need to find the right way to compete against them and then beat them. This year, every team can beat any other team. You need to put so much work and effort in to achieve a positive result.”
Team news
West Brom have had a big fitness boost during the international break, with Swift [calf] and Maja [ankle] both in contention to face Ipswich after returning to training earlier this week.
Corberan has explained that, while he feels “positive”, about the pair, “the decision will be based on the physical values that they have achieved and the reaction of the body to the stimulation from training during the week.”.
Sarmiento [quadriceps] has also returned to training over the international break, but the Baggies will be without Adam Reach [quad], Daryl Dike [Achilles] and Martin Kelly [knee].
Potential starting XI: 4-4-2: Palmer; Furlong, Ajayi, Kipre, Townsend; Diangana, Molumby, Mowatt, Phillips; Thomas-Asante, Wallace
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