Rovers up next as Baggies seek successive wins

Brummie Road Ender

·11 février 2025

Rovers up next as Baggies seek successive wins

West Bromwich Albion v Blackburn Rovers; The Hawthorns, Wednesday 12th February 2025, 8pm

Albion head into an encounter with play-off rivals, Blackburn Rovers, on Wednesday evening looking for their first back-to-back wins since September. Saturday’s dramatic finish has buoyed everyone connected with the club coming when it looked as if the optimism following the transfer window had been dashed by an all-too-familiar late equaliser.

Molumby’s winner was not only a recent rarity because of its lateness, Albion’s first stoppage time winner for almost three years, but also because it was from a corner, just the fifth such goal this season for the Baggies. It was a goal and a result that Molumby obviously enjoyed and the one down side to the match was the red card for Kyle Bartley has he became embroiled in the aftermath of the Irishman’s post-match jibes at the Wednesday players. It wasn’t particularly violent but it was enough to earn a red card if seen by the officials and he will now sit out the next three games.

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It leaves Albion a little short at the back and hopeful that Mason Holgate, who missed Saturday’s game through illness, will be well enough to return to the starting line up on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Semi Ajayi played his first football since October on Monday night as part of the PL2 team that earned a victory over Newcastle United. The Nigerian played 45 minutes and, while he won’t be involved against Blackburn, Mowbray may include him in the squad for the trip to Millwall next weekend.

Another player who featured on Monday was Daryl Dike who played competitive football for the first time in almost twelve months. He played just thirty minutes but came through unscathed, and should be challenging for a place in the squad in the not too distant future. In the meantime, the signings of Adam Armstrong and Will Lankshear look to have given Albion the firepower they have lacked for much of the campaign. Armstrong’s goal on Saturday was superb, an improved finish that was reminiscent of a certain Kevin Phillips at his peak. The Southampton loanee’s all round game was excellent and I expect his impact to only increase as he gets to know his new teammates. Lankshear also looked promising in his cameo off the bench and was involved in Amstrong’s opening goal, while the assists were both from substitutes in Fellows and Johnston.

Most fans would have expected Fellows and Johnston to start but, with Mowbray opting to play Armstrong through the middle with Molumby and Price as double-tens behind, he pushed Diangana out to the right wing with a surprise recall for Karlan Grant on the left. There was an obvious tactic for Molumby and Price to press high and force errors from the Wednesday defence, which worked as Albion dominated the first half, but without Diangana’s skills in a central role and, perhaps, Johnston’s ability to run at players, they were unable to make the most of the opportunities. It’s difficult to say that the starting eleven should have been different, and who knows whether the medical staff had indicated that Fellows and Johnston needed a rest, but I’d be surprised if the attacking line-up was unchanged on Wednesday night.

The other key decision that Mogga made on Saturday was who to start between the sticks. There was a general expectation that Griffiths would get the nod but it was Wildsmith who played and rewarded his head coach’s faith with an excellent performance including a couple of crucial saves. We should not be surprised – while Griffiths has been performing well this season, we should not forget that Wildsmith won the Golden Glove in League One with Derby County last season and, while his performance at Bournemouth wasn’t great, he certainly did enough against Sheffield Wednesday to warrant his selection.

Albion’s opponents on Wednesday evening, Blackburn Rovers, appear to be on the verge of losing their head coach, John Eustace, who has “reluctantly” been given permission to speak to Derby County about replacing Paul Warne who was sacked before their game with Norwich City at the weekend. That Eustace would want to leave a club in the top six of the Championship to join one in the bottom three suggests that all is not well with his relationship with the controversial owners, Venky’s. Rovers fans have vented their anger at the news placing the blame firmly with the club – it is understood that they were unwilling to extend Eustace’s contract and that four of their signings in January are only contracted to the end of the season providing little comfort as to the long term prospects of the club.

How, or even if, the situation will affect the Blackburn players is unclear. While there has been no announcement at the time of writing, there was an expectation that Eustace would be watching his proposed new club, Derby County, on Tuesday evening and it is unclear who will be in charge of the team at the Hawthorns.

However, it is not a game that should be taken lightly. Rovers sit just behind Albion in sixth place albeit they have lost five of their last six games including their defeat to Wolves in the FA Cup last weekend with what was a far from full strength team. Their principal problem this season has been goalscoring – they have scored just 35 goals this season, the lowest total for any team in the top half of the Championship, having failed to adequately replace Sammie Szmodics who was sold to Ipswich Town in August.

One man they brought in was Andreas Weimann who, of course, spent the second half of last season on loan at the Hawthorns and was subsequently released by Bristol City. The Austrian will have endeared himself to Rovers fans with a debut goal against Derby County and another in late August against arch rivals, Burnley, but he has scored just six goals this season having been used from the bench as often as from the start. It is Senegalese striker, Makhtar Gueye that has emerged as the first choice number nine of late, but has only three goals all season. The number nine for the first half of the campaign, Japanese international Yuki Ohashi, scored five goals before he was injured in the game against Leeds United on New Year’s Day – he hasn’t played since but could be close to a return.

Rovers’ success this season has been based on a solid defence – the have recorded eleven clean sheets, the same as Albion, and have conceded three goals in just one match, again the same as the Baggies. They had a particularly good run in November and December when they won six successive matches conceding just once in the process, lifting them to fifth place just one point behind rivals Burnley. However, they have won just twice in the eleven league matches since then and, while they are still just about in the top six, they are sixteen points behind the Clarets.

That is indicative of the lack of consistency in the teams outside the top four that sees fifth placed Albion just seven points above Millwall in fourteenth, but twelve points behind Sunderland in fourth. Before last weekend, the Baggies still has to play seven of the other eight sides placed between 5th and 14th that have a realistic shot of a top six spot. Having beaten Sheffield Wednesday, Blackburn Rovers are next up in that batch of fixtures, with each one crucial in helping to decide which two of those nine teams can secure the final play-off positions.

Finding a way to win successive games will be a massive help in the run-in, and Wednesday night’s game represents a great chance for Albion to start to build momentum.

History

Albion and Blackburn were both significant forces in the early days of organised football although Rovers generally held the edge knocking the Throstles out of the FA Cup in 1885, beating them in the final in 1886 and the semi-final in 1891. Meanwhile, Blackburn put eleven goals past Albion in the first two Football League meetings at Rovers’ Leamington Road ground. The Baggies have had their successes, of course, such as the 6-2 win in 1899 and the record 8-1 victory in January 1936 when both Ginger Richardson and Jack Mahon scored hat tricks, but they have always remained behind on the head-to-head record. Blackburn have won 55 of the 136 meetings in all competitions with Albion on 47.

Blackburn haven’t won at the Hawthorns for 14 years with their last victory in Sandwell coming just after Christmas in 2010 when a brace from Nikola Kalinić and another from Mame Biram Diouf saw the Lancashire side win 3-1 in a Premier League fixture – Jerome Thomas had equalised for the Baggies in the first half. Kalinić ended up being sent off in the second half with Albion’s Gabriel Tamaș also receiving his marching orders late on.

Since then, Albion have won three of the six meetings scoring at least three goals in each of those victories. In April 2012, a Martin Olsson own goal and second half strikes from Marc-Antione Fortuné and Liam Ridgewell guided them to a 3-0 win while in August 2019, Tony Mowbray was in the Rovers dugout for a tight encounter that ended up 3-2; Matt Phillips, Jake Livermore and Grady Diangana scored the hosts’ goals while the two Bradleys, Dack and Johnston, scored for the visitors – all the goals came in a pulsating first half. Just over twelve months ago, goals from Tom Fellows and Brandon Thomas-Asante (2) and a Dom Hyam goal saw the Baggies win 4-1.