Bluebirds up next as Baggies look to end away day blues

Cardiff City v West Bromwich Albion; Cardiff City Stadium, 15th March 2023, 7.45pm

Carlos Corberán takes his team to south Wales on Wednesday with Albion looking to end their miserable run of away form. While their home form is breaking records, they have lost their last five games on the road in all competitions and it is a streak that needs to come to an end soon if they are to maintain their play-off push.

A trip to Cardiff City would seem to present a good opportunity to pick up points although they have turned something of a corner recently following the appointment of Sabri Lamouchi. The former Forest boss took over in late January, and while City lost his first three games in charge, they registered their first victory since early November with a 2-0 win at Birmingham City and have followed that up by winning their last two home games over Reading and Bristol City. Consequently, they have pulled six points clear of the bottom three although they remain in 21st place.

Scoring goals has been the Bluebirds’ problem all season and they are the lowest scorers in the Championship with just 27 in their 36 games. Callum Robinson is their top scorer with seven goals in all competitions, although two of those came in the 5-2 FA Cup defeat to Leeds United when he came off the bench with City already 5-0 down, while another former Baggie, Romaine Sawyers has also found the net this season scoring three times. Cédric Kipré also has one goal to his name but is ineligible for this match as he is on loan from the Hawthorns. I’m sure that Robinson will be keen to impress in his first match against his former club having made his move after the teams met in the Black Country in August.

Corberán surprised most on Saturday by selecting Adam Reach for just his second league start of the season. The former Wednesday man certainly worked hard and offered plenty of energy when many of his team mates looked to be suffering a little from fatigue. The Albion boss also said that the decision to play him was also because he is a natural left-footer which he feels has benefits on both sides – he was quoted in the E&S as saying “when you play against man-marking and you have natural (footed) players you expose more of the ball, when you play the opposite side you can protect more of the ball.”

That article also suggested that the Spaniard was hoping to have Brandon Thomas-Asante available for the trip to Cardiff having not been quite ready to return at the weekend. If he is still touch-and-go, it would seem sensible to give him the extra 17 days until Albion return to action after the international break, but I’m sure the medical team will advise appropriately.

If BTA is available, I wouldn’t expect him to start so the main decisions for Corberán will be whether to start with Reach or Albrighton, and whether to trust Molumby not to pick up a booking in what will be the last match before the suspension threshold goes up to fifteen yellow cards. I guess another consideration might be the inclusion of Tom Rogić from the off, but the form of John Swift has been such that it would probably need a formation change or an injury to the former Reading man to see the Australian given the nod.

Wigan and Huddersfield both sat deep and made it very difficult for Albion to break them down, but I expect Cardiff to offer a little more attacking intent. Although they have pulled six points clear of the drop zone, they are still desperate for points and, given Albion’s away form, I’m sure they will fancy their chances of getting a result. That could play into the Baggies’ hands and that it should give them a little more space to play, but that is only a benefit if they take their chances, something they have failed to do in recent away games.

Back-to-back victories will undoubtedly have improved confidence, and I am sure they will create opportunities in Cardiff – if they can take one or two early, another victory should be there for the taking. A point would not be a bad result, but three would be a massive boost ahead of the international break.

History

Wednesday evening’s match will be the 60th time the two sides have met in all competitions and the fifth at the Cardiff City Stadium. Albion have won only one of the previous four visits to the Bluebirds’ new home, last season’s 4-0 win, with the hosts having won two. The Baggies first visit to the venue finished all square with Gianni Zuiverloon cancelling out Peter Whittingham’s penalty in February 2010.

As good as the result was on their last visit, it is not Albion’s best win in Cardiff. That was back in April 1948 when a brace apiece from Jack Haines and Arthur Taylor and another from Arthur Rowley saw the Baggies leave with a 5-0 win. That was the last of four league goals that Arthur Rowley scored for Albion, unremarkable, perhaps, until you realise that he went on to become the Football League’s record scorer with 433 goals in 619 games for four different clubs.

In September 1930, another Albion side went one better in terms of goals scored on a visit to Ninian Park – Jimmy Cooksoon scored four of the Baggies’ six, Harry Boston and Joe Carter netting the others, but the hosts managed three of their own through Don Bird, Les Jones and Tom Helsby.

Stat Attack

Current Form

All competitions; most recent game on the right

Last matches

Last meeting

17 Aug 2022 – League Championship
West Bromwich Albion 0
Cardiff City 0

Last meeting at Cardiff City

28 Sep 2021 – League Championship
Cardiff City 0
West Bromwich Albion 4 (Grant, Nelson (o.g.), Mowatt, Phillips)

Albion’s Record against Cardiff City

If you cannot see the tables, click here.