West Bromwich Albion will be without suspended centre midfield duo Jake Livermore and Romaine Sawyers when they face Sheffield Wednesday this weekend. Both Albion men picked up their fifth booking of the season last time out against Hull City, leaving Slaven Bilić with a selection headache as the Baggies look to stay put at the top of the Championship.
West Bromwich Albion Without Jake Livermore and Romaine Sawyers Against Sheffield Wednesday
West Bromwich Albion’s Selection Headache
Slaven Bilić faces his biggest test of selection and tactical ingenuity as West Brom boss this weekend. With Jake Livermore and Romaine Sawyers both suspended for racking up five yellow cards, Bilić has to adequately replace two of his most influential players.
Livermore and Sawyers have been in fine form in the middle of the park this season. They pull the strings in this Albion side and are vital to Bilić’s setup. Sawyers has been mightily impressive and heavily touted as the bargain signing of the season after his arrival from Brentford for a minimal fee, whilst club captain Livermore, who was heavily criticised for his performances last season, is rejuvenated under Slaven Bilić and arguably playing his best football in years.
Perhaps the most effective solution would be to push the capable Semi Ajayi from centre defence to fill a space and bring in Ahmed Hegazi. The Egyptian defender missed the start of the season through injury and has struggled to break back into the team due to the impressive form of Albion’s centre-back pairing. Ajayi, alongside Kyle Bartley, have kept three clean sheets in their last five games. This will make Bilić very reluctant to tamper with his backline.
The likely solution for Bilić is to play Filip Krovinovic in a deeper role than the Croatian is accustomed to, with either Chris Brunt or Gareth Barry alongside him. Any involvement of Barry would be the 38-year-old’s first competitive game since undergoing knee surgery back in March.
Wednesday’s Woes
Sheffield Wednesday are bang in the middle of the extremely tight play-off battle after a fairly solid season so far. Gary Monk’s side currently sit in eighth place on 25 points but face a tough challenge at The Hawthorns on Saturday. The Owls have not beaten Albion in the last six meetings between these teams and are winless in three. Whilst the Baggies picked up back to back wins prior to the international break and are looking to win three consecutive games for the first time this season.
Their fixture against West Brom is their first since being charged with misconduct by the EFL for selling their stadium to owner Dejphon Chansiri to try to avoid breaking spending rules. Wednesday could face punishment that includes a reprimand, points deduction, financial penalty or even expulsion from the league. The club state that they will “vigorously defend” the charges but this is now a cloud over the club that could derail their season.
Fortress Hawthorns
Wednesday have not won in three games and their form on the road has taken a nosedive. Now they travel to The Hawthorns to meet the league leaders who are unbeaten at home this season and have scored two or more goals in each of their last five games on home turf.
The Baggies may not have lost at home this season but they have drawn four of their seven games at The Hawthorns. Although their unbeaten home record is impressive, Albion are actually better on the road, particularly when it comes to shutting out the opposition. All four of their clean sheets in this campaign coming on the road with a home clean sheet alluding them so far.
West Brom are the only side in the division hitting the magical average of two points per game that often comes with promotion. They are the favourites for this one but their centre midfield dilemma has perhaps opened the door for Sheffield Wednesday to capitalise.
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