The final away game of the season as the Baggies travel to the Welsh Capital with James Morrison taking interim charge against Aaron Ramsey’s Cardiff City who are battling relegation in the Championship.
Interim manager James Morrison’s first game in the dugout after the sacking of Tony Mowbray early this week marked a end to his three month stay at The Hawthorns. Now play-offs is nothing but over and we face Cardiff who have something to play for as they are facing a fight to stay in the Championship.
His sacking would now face us looking for our 2nd manager since Carlos Corberan left at Christmas and there a few names mentioned with Ryan Mason being a favourite, the current Leeds manager Daniel Farke and Plymouth’s Miron Muslić who has done well for the club in the 2nd half of this season after Wayne Rooney was sacked.
Player To Watch – Cardiff City
Callum Robinson the former West Brom player would be my player to watch for this one against West Brom. The 30-year-old forward has hit a rich vein of form at a crucial point in the season, scoring in back-to-back matches against Plymouth Argyle and Portsmouth.
These goals not only showcased his sharpness in front of goal but also demonstrated his ability to deliver when it matters most, effectively doubling his goal tally in just a few days. With 12 goals in the Championship this season, Robinson has established himself as one of Cardiff’s key attacking threats.
I think for this game, he would look for a goal against his former side as he is looking to keep his Cardiff side in the Championship knowing a defeat could see them playing in League One next season and if they do go down, I think Callum Robinson could be one player we could bring back as he could be back-up for Maja and Dike next season.
Player To Watch – West Brom
Player to watch is hard at the moment as no one is really performing that well enough to become the player to watch but one player who could standout is former Cardiff loanee Karlan Grant.
He seems to have played well in the first half of this season until Mowbray said he is not in his plans but I do think he could start in this fixture and has scored 7 goals this seasons and provided 2 assists. He has ability to play across a variety of attacking positions left wing, attacking midfield and striker and I would play him as striker for this fixture.
My Line Up V Cardiff City
I start differently to the game on Monday, Holgate would come in as left-back with Diakite starting at centre back with Heggem. In midfield I have Jayson Molumby and Alex Mowatt in the starting XI with Tom Fellows, Isaac Price and Jed Wallace who I would start play behind Karlan Grant.
Prediction V Cardiff City
Bringing on the prediction over Cardiff City, last time out I said a 1-1 draw over Derby County and that was a poor result with a 3-1 home defeat over a side who are in relegation trouble. Next up is Cardiff who are also in relegation trouble and can be relegated if we beat them on Saturday and either Derby or Luton take a point.
Prediction for this one, I say our away form is bad and out of 24 teams we the only team to not win away in the league in 2025. It’s mad to say considering we can mathematically secure a play-off place this season but for this one we would control the game in the first 20 minutes and around the 26th minute the Baggies would take the lead with Jed Wallace cutting from inside and Karlan Grant with space would smash in the first goal.
It remain 1-0 at half time with us leading, in the second half Cardiff would try and get something but they would be under pressure knowing a defeat could potentially put them into League One and their efforts would lead to nothing and can see nothing but a 1-0 victory here for West Brom where this be our first away win in 2025.
Prediction: Cardiff City 0-1 West Brom
Goalscorer for West Brom: Karlan Grant
A 1-0 win away at Cardiff I’m thinking but knowing our away form we could either be defeated again or have another draw. I do feel with interim managers who take charge they do go on a good run as it always happens and I do sense this time round James Morrison could do well his side in the final two games and could relegate both sides in our final two games.