Sideways Sammy

Coventry City might have dropped two valuable points on Monday that would have made both this game and the ones to come more comfortable, but they remain in a strong position to secure a top six finish. That is a position, however, that could transform dramatically on this very fixture, against 7th-placed West Bromwich Albion, which is likely to define the Sky Blues’ season, either positively or negatively.

The Baggies have endured a strange season where they started strongly and have been hanging in around the top six places despite largely indifferent form ever since – especially since the departure of Carlos Corberan as manager. On a run of 13 games without a win on the road – albeit, drawing seven of that 13 – a defeat here could go a long way towards ending the play-off hopes for this season. It may not be more of a ‘must not lose’ than ‘must win’ for both sides but it is certainly a chance to strike a blow for a direct top six rival here.

Expected Line-Up

Monday night’s starting line-up brought the news that Coventry City’s injury issues have worsened over the past week or so. Bobby Thomas and Ephron Mason-Clark joined Victor Torp on an absentee list that also contains Oliver Dovin and Josh Eccles, with Dovin and Torp certain to miss the remainder of the campaign. Unless players can start to return to fitness quickly, it leaves Frank Lampard with little wiggle room at a crucial juncture of the season.

There is almost no scope for Frank Lampard to make changes from Monday night’s game, as evidenced by the manager making only two substitutions as the team looked to force a result. Neither of those substitutes – Jamie Paterson and Norman Bassette – look to be in a serious position to challenge for a place in the starting XI right now, so it is likely to be as the Sky Blues were.

If there is one area to look out for, it may be Ben Sheaf’s place in central midfield as the coaching staff look to manage his fragile fitness during a potentially crucial pair of games over the Easter period. Jamie Allen coming in for either this match or the Plymouth Argyle one seems likely, someone who proved against Sunderland recently that he can positively impact important fixtures.

Last Time We Met

For the last time, Coventry City committed the cardinal sin of playing a Carlos Corberan-managed side, in falling behind. Frank Lampard was short on luck on this trip to The Hawthorns early into his reign, with West Bromwich Albion taking the lead early on from a heavily-deflected Alex Mowatt effort. The Sky Blues had chances to equalise, but they mostly fell the way of Norman Bassette, who never looked like scoring on the night.

Any hopes of putting Albion under pressure late on were put paid to when Joel Latibeaudere was second to a loose ball that fell kindly to Karlan Grant to sweep home past Brad Collins. Hopefully, a case of all the bad luck against one team in a season occurring in one game.

The Opposition

The Manager – Tony Mowbray

Back in the dug-out and back at one of the clubs that helped make his name as a manager, Tony Mowbray has struggled to move West Bromwich Albion away from the safety-first football they had become so good at executing under Carlos Corberan. Some impressive performances at The Hawthorns aside, Mowbray has looked a little short on ideas as to how to get the Baggies’ attack ticking, which has seen the team draw their out of the top six.

Despite having had some room in the January transfer market to make a couple of additions to the squad – most notably, bringing in a long-time favourite, Adam Armstrong, to the club – Tony Mowbray seems to be missing a few key ingredients to mould this Albion side to his liking. While he is someone who retains a lot of good will at the club from his first spell there and in light of recent health issues, it is almost at a point where questions are being asked as to whether he can take the Baggies forward going into next season.

Who To Look Out For?

That January signing of Adam Armstrong had meant to elevate what was already a strong West Bromwich Albion squad but seems only to have added uncertainty to what had been a pretty clear attacking strategy earlier in the campaign. The direct wing play of Tom Fellows down the right, setting up Josh Maja to sweep home, had looked an effective and set formula in the opening months, but January’s attacking additions, plus Maja picking up an injury, has left West Brom short on ideas going forward.

While Tony Mowbray has wanted to get more out of flair players like John Swift and Grady Diangana, last week’s win over Watford saw them go back to that Carlos Corberan formula of getting Tom Fellows running directly down the right wing to create chances. With players like Karlan Grant and Mikey Johnston able to take advantage of that wing play by waiting in the box, that could be what saves their campaign. It would help if they could get the big American striker, Daryl Dike, fit to start games regularly, as a centre-forward who can physically occupy opponents and enhance the effectiveness of that wing-orientated strategy.

With Alex Mowatt playing the patrolling role in central midfield, there remains a strong platform for West Bromwich Albion to defend robustly. The centre-back pairing of the experienced Kyle Bartley and the giant Norwegian Torbjorn Heggem could prove a tough-nut to crack, while the Baggies have a long-throw merchant at right-back of their own, in Darnell Furlong.

Losing goalkeeper Alex Palmer in January for Championship-bound Ipswich Town was a big blow, with Joe Wildsmith a stop-gap solution between the sticks who has recently been replaced with the promising academy graduate recently promoted to number one – someone who has had a series of impressive loan spells in Leagues One and Two in recent years.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

With West Bromwich Albion’s struggles on the road in mind, this game is likely about how Coventry City can successfully take the game to them and break down one of the better defensive units in the division. Tony Mowbray has looked to make the Baggies a counter-attacking side on the road, but the team’s struggles in converting chances has waylaid that strategy somewhat.

The big match-up is between Tom Fellows down the right of West Bromwich Albion’s attack and Jay Dasilva on the left of Coventry City’s defence. As improved as Dasilva’s form has been of late, teams are continuing to target that left side and continuing to find their best moments in games from doing so. With Haji Wright set to play on the left of the attack, any help for Dasilva will need to come from midfield. If Fellows is given free rein down that side of the pitch, Coventry are going to have to be more switched on than they typically are in defending pull-backs due to their tendency to ball watch in defence.

Remarkably, the left side of defence is probably the weak-point for West Bromwich Albion too, as defensive injuries have forced their first-choice left-back – Torbjorn Heggem – into playing in central defence and left Callum Styles – who is a midfielder by trade – to play that role. With Tatsuhiro Sakamoto so reticent at the moment to play directly and instinctively down the right side, the onus may fall on what Milan van Ewijk can do when overlapping down that side of the pitch, looking to create chances for Ellis Simms, Haji Wright and Jack Rudoni occupying the penalty area.