Exclusive: Sky Sports pundit reacts to West Brom triple boost - they've "struggled" without | OneFootball

Tony Mowbray is set to welcome back a handful of injured Baggies players - but they won't be returning immediately after the international break

Despite being backed quite significantly in the January transfer window, returning West Brom manager Tony Mowbray still faces a huge battle to keep his side in the top six of the Championship.

The 61-year-old filled Carlos Corberan's shoes at The Hawthorns in January after a move for Swiss coach Raphael Wicky fell through, and four new signings soon arrived, with permanent deals for Isaac Price and Tammer Bany accompanied by temporary agreements for Adam Armstrong and Will Lankshear.

11 matches have passed since Mowbray's return and just four wins have been racked up, although the Baggies are currently on a six-match unbeaten run, with four of those being draws.

The ability to put teams away has been a struggle all season, with West Brom being the drawing-most side in the entire division with 18 - eclipsing Preston North End's 17 and Burnley and Bristol City's 15 - but the returns of Josh Maja and Jed Wallace could help to solve that issue.

Mowbray has revealed, along with defender Semi Ajayi, that Wallace and Maja should be ready to return within a week or two of the resumption of fixtures after the international break, with Maja especially being a boost thanks to his 12 goals scored from 26 league outings before being sidelined.

Don Goodman: West Brom will feel the benefit of Jed Wallace and Josh Maja's returns

With just eight league matches left this season and the likes of Bristol City and Middlesbrough waiting to pounce, West Brom cannot afford to drop many more points between now and May, with a trip to Norwich City first on the agenda after the international break is over.

And Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman - a former Wolves striker - believes that having Wallace and Maja back especially, despite Ajayi getting back to fitness as well, is going to help Mowbray massively in the push to finish in the play-off spots, due to the fact that goalscoring and creativity has been a bit of an issue.

"I think Tony Mowbray will be really pleased to have the three of them back - I think more-so the forward-thinking players in Jed Wallace and Josh Maja - because clearly it's at that end of the pitch where West Bromwich Albion have struggled to be consistent in terms of scoring goals under Tony Mowbray," Goodman said when speaking exclusively to Football League World.

"I think in 11 games, they've only scored more than one goal in a game on three occasions - all three at The Hawthorns, so they're struggling, particularly away from home, to get the ball in the opponent's net.

"And when you look at their offense, 48 goals in 38 games means the defence is having to be very stringent. Fortunately, they're the fourth-best defence in the league, but certainly to have the goals of Maja and the creative ability of Jed Wallace has to be a boost."

With Wallace, Ajayi and Maja not seemingly available until 'a week or two' until matchdays resume, it means that Mowbray may not be able to put them back onto the pitch until the April 12 clash with Watford at home.

That means based on those timeframes, key players will miss matches with Norwich, Sunderland and Bristol City - all who pose unique match-winning threats but at the same time are beatable.

It will leave just five matches for the returning Albion players to potentially make or break the club's season, and given the expectations will have been another play-off finish, Maja and co cannot afford to have a slow return where they need to build up - they need to hit the ground running.

In the mean-time, given the struggles of putting teams to the sword, it wouldn't be a huge shock if draws continue for the next handful of games - it is wins though that Albion desperately need if they're going to pull away from the chasing pack.