Optimism returning for Baggies as Sky Blues visit Hawthorns

West Bromwich Albion v Coventry City; The Hawthorns, Wednesday 11th December 2024, 8pm

Albion return to action for a second home game in four days as they welcome Coventry City to the Hawthorns on Wednesday evening with renewed optimism as they look to build on a positive display against the league leaders at the weekend.

Sunday’s match with Sheffield United may have ended in a tenth draw in eleven games for the Baggies, but there was a very different feeling on leaving the stadium than the disappointment that we experienced after the stalemate at Deepdale. There was even a smattering of applause from the home fans in the Brummie Road End in stark contrast to the boos that have been heard after recent home games, a sure sign that it had been a much better performance from Corberán’s team.

For once, Sky will have been pleased to have picked an Albion game to cover as it was, first and foremost, a good football match, and one that the hosts can count themselves a tad unfortunate not to have won. Ultimately, it was two individual mistakes that cost them as the visitors scored twice in two minutes to turn the game around after Torbjørn Heggem had given the Baggies the lead with his first goal for the club. The Norwegian was, unfortunately, guilty of a misplaced pass that led to the Blades’ second, but that should only be a minor blip in what has been an excellent start to his Albion career.

United’s goals were completely against the run of play in a first half that Albion largely dominated and credit must go to Corberán and the team for the start to the second half that saw them respond and claim an early equaliser that was definitely deserved, if a little fortunate in nature. The remainder of the second half was fairly even with both sides searching for a winner and it was a level of performance from the Baggies that we expect week in week out, with Johnston, Fellows, Molumby and Styles the stand out performers for me.

Given Corberán’s comments about Johnston not at being his best against physical opponents, I had expected Dobbin to start against the Blades, but the former Celtic man put in his best performance of the season with him and Fellows offering a serious threat from the flanks. He would certainly be in my team to start against Coventry but in Monday’s press conference, Corberán suggested that he was one of five or six players that would need to be evaluated for their readiness for the match. Bartley, Styles, Maja and Mowatt are also on that list, as is Grady Diangana who is back in training and could be fit enough for a place on the bench.

Wednesday’s opponents, Coventry City, shocked many when they sacked the longest serving manager in English football, Mark Robins, last month after a largely successful six-and-a-half years at the club. Frank Lampard was appointed three weeks later having been out of work since his ill-fated return to Chelsea was cut short in the summer of 2023. His first game in charge of the Sky Blues ended in a 2-2 draw with Cardiff City but the team surprisingly brought Millwall’s unbeaten record to an end with a 1-0 victory at the Den last weekend.

Even with Robins in charge, City have been somewhat erratic this season – just before his dismissal, they followed a 3-0 away win at Middlesbrough with a 2-1 home defeat by Derby County – their two games after that were creditable 2-2 draws with Sheffield United and Sunderland, before they were beaten at Burnley, so it’s difficult to predict how they might play on Wednesday night.

As Corberán has said previously, every game in the Championship is difficult but every game is winnable – this is one that Albion really need to win to build on the good performance from the weekend. If they do play as well as they did on Sunday, and cut out those individual mistakes, the three points should be there for the taking, and a first home win since September!

History

The Baggies have won their last three meetings with Coventry City and haven’t been beaten by the Sky Blues at the Hawthorns since December 2007. City’s only win over Albion since then was in December 2022 at the CBS Arena.

Of the current squads, only Brandon Thomas-Asante has played for both teams with the former Salford City forward having made the move across the West Midlands in the summer. He is the latest in a long line of strikers to have played for both clubs with the late great Cyrille Regis probably the most famous. Big C made the move to Highfield Road in 1984 and went on to win the FA Cup with the Sky Blues.

Other notable strikers to have played for both clubs include one of Regis’s strike partners at the Hawthorns, Garry Thompson, who moved from Coventry to Albion in 1983, and Lee Hughes, who moved to Coventry in the summer of 2001 and back to Albion a year later. Others include John Hartson, who had a short spell with City before moving to Celtic ahead of his move back south to play for Albion, David Speedie who had four seasons in Coventry and a brief loan spell at the Hawthorns, David Cross who moved from Coventry to the Baggies in 1976, Gary Bannister who had two spells with the Sky Blues and moved to Albion at the end of his second in 1990 and Marc-Antoine Fortuné who played for City in League One in 2015/16.

There are probably even more goalkeepers to have played for both clubs including Albion’s 1954 Cup winning stopper, Jim Sanders, who had a season with the Sky Blues in Division Four after leaving the Hawthorns. Other ‘keepers include Marton Fulop had a loan spell at City from Spurs in 2005/06 and made three appearances for Albion in 2011/12, Joe Murphy, who famously saved a Michael Owen penalty on his Premier League debut had three seasons with the Sky Blues between 2011 and 2014, and Alan Miller who had four years with the Baggies but made just one substitute appearance for City in October 2000 when he came off the bench after another ‘keeper to play for both teams, Chris Kirkland, had been sent off at Stamford Bridge after just 22 minutes. It was 0-0 at the time and it wouldn’t be a happy last appearance in English football for Miller as the Blues went on to win 6-1 with Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink scoring four!

Although he never made a senior appearance for Albion, Jonathan Gould was on the books at the Hawthorns when his father, Bobby, was manager and he went on to join Coventry in the summer of 1992. Bobby, of course, played for and managed both clubs.

A few other memorable names to have played for both teams include Sam Allardyce, Peter Barnes, Leon Barnett, David Burrows, Lloyd Dyer, Kevin Kilbane, Steve Hunt and Martin Jol.

Stat Attack

Current Form

All competitions; most recent game on the right

Last matches

Last meeting

1 Mar 2024 – League Championship
West Bromwich Albion 2 (Johnston, Diangana)
Coventry City 1 (Wright (pen))

Albion’s Record against Coventry City