Huddersfield Town travel to West Bromwich Albion in the Sky Bet Championship on Friday night looking to continue their great form as they look to continue their unbeaten run, exceeding expectations of many Town supporters with the season slowly coming to its climax.
Carlos Corberan will be looking to gain more points in hope of atleast making the play-offs if automatic promotion is out of sight with Bournemouth and Fulham currently the only teams to be above the West Yorkshire side and looking to extend their lead over them.
West Brom sit in 13th place in the league table with 49 points on the board. At this stage of the season they have won 13 games, drawn 10 and lost 12 games showing their mixed bag of form during the season so far, a lack of consistency the underlying issue. Steve Bruce would have been impressed with his side after beating Hull City 2-0 away from home, two goals from Karlan Grant securing the points away from home.
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Team news
Barring any injury issues, Bruce is unlikely to make any changes to his West Brom starting lineup for this contest.
While Grant netted the goals at Hull, academy graduate Taylor-Gardner Hickman made a difference in central midfield, and it could leave the likes of Jayson Molumby, Adam Reach and Grady Diangana on the substitutes bench.
Corberan switched to a back three to match Nottingham Forest on Monday night, making it possible that the Spaniard could stick with the same strategy for this game.
However reverting back to the 4-3-3 and personnel from the Peterborough United fixture is more likely with Lee Nicholls, Oliver Turton, Harry Toffolo, Jonathan Russell and Danny Ward all in line for recalls.
Levi Colwill trained with Town on Thursday in consideration for the game alongside Josh Koroma who also was in training.
Lewis O'Brien was also pointed out by Corberan in the pre match press conference, again a player whose availability will depend on how he gets on in training, just like Koroma.
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Predicted lineups
West Bromwich: Johnstone; Ajayi, Bartley, Clarke, Furlong, Gardner-Hickman, Livermore, Mowatt, Townsend, Robinson, Grant.
Huddersfield Town: Nicholls; Turton, Pearson, Lees, Toffolo, Sinani, Russell, O'Brien, Thomas, Ward, Holmes.
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Form guide
West Brom’s recent 2-0 win at Hull was their first win in seven games which shows the problems they have had with consistency. Before Hull they lost their game at home against Swansea City. Two goals late on by the away side took the game away from the hosts, Joel Piroe and Cyrus Christie breaching Sam Johnstone's goal.
Huddersfield on the other hand, have had a successful run at this stage of the season. Unbeaten in their last 16 games in the league, the Terriers are really in great form. Their biggest win of late was at Craven Cottage with a convincing performance at Fulham. Two goals in the first half gave the hosts a mountain to climb and showed the rest of the league why the West Yorkshire side are serious candidates in the promotion run in.
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Previous meetings
Last time these sides faced, Town lost 4-2 to West Brom, in the Sky Bet Championship at the Hawthorns in September 2019. Town went ahead through Lewis O'Brien in the 16th minute, but conceded three minutes later as Matt Phillips converted for the Baggies. Although Karlan Grant, now a West Brom player, put Town ahead just before half time, this wasnt enough as the hosts cleaned out the contest late on through Phillips, Darnell Furlong and Semi Ajayi.
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Ones to watch
Sorba Thomas, Danel Sinani and Josh Koroma have all had great seasons so far up front for Huddersfield, with Thomas and Koroma causing problems on the wings, Sinani is often the influencer with all of these players bringing different threats from set pieces and corners themselves. For the Terriers, these players could be pivotal once again to break the rigid line of West Brom who on their day can be a hard force to knock down.
Having scored for Town last time out against West Brom, this season Grant has shown he has goals in him for the Baggies and can score from tight situations. This game could prove to be another big opportunity for him to show what he is capable of again but this time under Bruce. With a very tough game against current highflyers Town on the agenda, he will have to be in the best shape possible to get past their defence.
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How to watch
The clash kicks off at 20:00 GMT and will be broadcasted live on Sky Sports in the UK.
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What Corberan said pre-match
Corberan spoke to club media about his opposite number going into the game at the Hawthorns. He said:
"West Brom of course is a different team, for me but with the same players. I think these group of players many of them last year were competing in the Premier League, this year they were in a good position in the league, but they have had a negative dynamic previously.
”They are a dangerous team and will keep competing to make something of this season, the squad is good. The reputation and experience of the coach means they will be drilled very well."