Wolves vs. West Brom
Venue: Molineux
Kick off: 1:30PM
West Midlands rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion square off this afternoon having each put together lengthy winless streaks in the Premier League.
While the home side have gone five matches without recording maximum points, the Baggies last recorded success on November 28 when they edged out bottom-placed Sheffield United.
Since their takeover in 2017, Wolves have been on a more positive trajectory than their neighbours West Brom, who returned to the Premier League in 2020 after a two-year absence.
However, ahead of the first Black Country derby in almost nine years, both teams are going through troubled periods which could hinder their long-term development.
Despite pre-season hopes of another top-seven finish, Wolves find themselves down in 14th position having played at least a game more than many of the other teams in the division.
West Brom had hoped to have moved closer to safety after replacing Slaven Bilic with Sam Allardyce, but the Baggies are now six points adrift of safety with a -28 goal difference.
While Wolves are having to cope with a number of injury issues, the long-term absence of Raul Jimenez is threatening to undermine the progress which they have made over the past two seasons.
Ahead of reaching the midway point of the season, Nuno Espirito Santo will feel that a win over their rivals can act as the catalyst for an improved run of form over the coming weeks.
That said, Wolves cannot expect to make any significant headway up the standings until Fabio Silva or Patrick Cutrone show that they can add goals in the final third.
Allardyce has had a tough introduction to life at The Hawthorns with his opening four fixtures being against Aston Villa, Liverpool, Leeds United and Arsenal.
Nevertheless, the veteran boss had little excuse for his team’s penalty-shootout defeat at Blackpool in the FA Cup third round, with the performance suggesting that fans can expect several changes in personnel before the end of the month.
Wolves possible XI: Patricio, Semedo, Coady, Saiss, Ait-Nouri, Dendoncker, Neves, Moutinho, Neto, Cutrone, Silva.
West Brom possible XI: Johnstone, Furlong, Ajayi, Ivanovic, Gibbs, Phillips, Sawyers, Livermore, Diangana, Pereira, Robinson.
