The Baggies head north once again this weekend as they make the trip to the Riverside Stadium to face Middlesbrough, just 64 hours after their Carabao Cup clash with Newcastle United.
Last night was a great performance from the Baggies at Newcastle despite a 3-2 defeat and Harvey Barnes the ex-Baggie haunted us out of the Carabao Cup, but attention focuses on Middlesbrough and today we’ve signed Levante Winger Kareem Tunde on a 4 year deal and joined up this the side today.
For this one, we face another promotion contender and they’ve also got an ex player and that’s Will Lankshear and while at Oxford last season he scored in both games, he’s on form for Middlesbrough early this season and this is maybe one of the toughest games to face in this run of fixtures.
Can The Baggies win and go top of the table before the 3pm kick offs or would Boro end our 100% winning run in the Championship?
Player To Watch – Middlesbrough
You probably know who’s going to be the Player to Watch for this one: Will Lankshear.
The striker made the £20 million move from Tottenham in the summer, and there’s already plenty of speculation among Middlesbrough supporters that he could finish the season as their top scorer. Personally, I’m not convinced he’ll be quite that prolific. Lankshear struggled at times during his loan spell with us, while last season he scored 11 goals for Oxford United.
This is a game he’ll have been looking forward to for weeks. Having already scored against us during his time at Oxford last season, he’ll know exactly what it feels like to get one over on his former club. He’ll be desperate to do it again on Saturday, and I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if Lankshear ends up haunting us at the Riverside — just as Harvey Barnes did on Wednesday night.
Player To Watch – West Brom
It’s hard to look past Isaac Price for our Player to Watch going into Saturday’s trip to Middlesbrough. The midfielder is arguably in the form of his life at the moment, and he’s been producing some seriously impressive performances over the last couple of games.
After scoring a brace against Burnley, Price followed it up with another two goals against Newcastle, including a superb free-kick and a penalty. He’s playing with confidence, and when he’s in this kind of form, he can be a real handful for any Championship defence.
Middlesbrough will certainly have to keep a close eye on him at the Riverside. Price has already picked up two Man of the Match performances this season and has arguably produced some of his best football at Championship level. If he can continue this run of form on Saturday, he could be lethal once again.
And with his performances starting to attract attention, you have to wonder whether there could be Premier League clubs keeping tabs on him. If Price continues performing at this level, it surely won’t be long before those questions start being asked more seriously.
Line Up V Middlesbrough
For Middlesbrough, I’d make a few changes to the side, with Max O’Leary returning in goal.
In front of him, I’d go with a back four of Callum Styles, Nat Phillips, George Campbell and Nolan Galves. It would give Albion a solid-looking defensive unit going into what could be a difficult afternoon at the Riverside.
In midfield, I’d pair Jayson Molumby with Mahamadou Diakité, while Harry Whitwell and Isaac Price provide the width and attacking threat from the wings.
Further forward, Jimmy-Jay Morgan would lead the line, with Felix Horn Myhre playing just behind him. Price will be one to watch after his recent form, and getting him into dangerous positions could be key if Albion are going to come away with a result.
Prediction V Middlesbrough
Prediction for Middlesbrough, I did predict the Burnley result right last weekend and predicted two draws already this season one to Norwich and Newcastle where we beat Norwich 2-1 and lost to Newcastle 3-2.
I think in the opening minutes we would be the most dominant side at The Riverside with Jimmy-Jay Morgan coming close in the opening stages, we would see a corner around the 21st minute with Isaac Price’s corner would go for George Campbell to head it in to make it 1-0 to the Baggies giving us a good start in Middlesbrough.
Around the 40th minute, Isaac Price would have a free-kick and he does what he delivers to give us a 2 goal lead just 5 minutes before the break and in added time, Middlesbrough would get one back with Jeremy Sarmiento making a cross for Will Lankshear to put Boro back into it.
In the second half in the 52nd minute we see Jeremy Sarmiento making it to 2-2 another ex-Baggie to haunt us with it now being 3 players in 3 days to score past us. It would be a quiet spell in the game and the last 15 minutes would see a lot of opportunities, we see the hosts coming from 2-0 down to bringing it to 3-2 with Morgan Whittaker getting one, but on the 89th minute Aune Heggebo would make a perfect cross for Jimmy-Jay Morgan to give us a late equaliser to putting the scoreline at 3-3, the hosts would be all over us in the final stages but one would hit the crossbar and the whistle would go and it be another great game for the Baggies but the scores would end in a 3-3 draw at The Riverside.
Prediction: Middlesbrough 3-3 West Brom
Goalscorers for Middlesbrough: Will Lankshear, Jeremy Sarmiento, Morgan Whittaker
Goalscorers for West Brom: George Campbell, Isaac Price, Jimmy-Jay Morgan
I’m going for goals in this one, with a 3-3 draw my prediction for the afternoon.
Both Middlesbrough and West Brom are attacking sides, and I can see both teams causing plenty of problems going forward. Middlesbrough have a proven goalscorer in Will Lankshear, while Albion have plenty of attacking threat of their own through Isaac Price and Jimmy-Jay Morgan.
I think it could be an entertaining game from start to finish, with neither side willing to sit back. Six goals would be some scoreline, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we got exactly that at the Riverside.
I would take this result if it does happen on Saturday, as 7 points in 3 tough fixtures is good before we face home games against Charlton and Watford.