Preview: West Bromwich Albion vs. Bristol City - prediction, team news, lineups

West Bromwich Albion play host to Bristol City on Saturday afternoon looking to bounce back from their surprise defeat at Swansea City.

At a time when the Baggies have dropped into third position in the Championship table, Bristol City are down in 16th place after their dramatic loss at home to Nottingham Forest.

Match preview

Earlier in the season, it appeared that West Brom could realistically earn promotion back to the Premier League without leaving the top two.

However, Valerien Ismael's side have been relatively poor of late, winning just three times in eight matches and suffering two away defeats in succession.

Aside from running riot at struggling Cardiff City, the Baggies have looked well short in the final third, regardless of the combination which Ismael selects for his front three.

Karlan Grant now has six strikes to his name after a flurry of goals, but he is receiving little to no support from his teammates.

With a trip to rivals Fulham coming up before the end of the month, Ismael will be desperate to get back on track against a Bristol City side who were left stunned by Forest.

The Robins were on the brink of ending their near 10-month period without a home win when leading the in-form side in the division on Tuesday night.

However, two goals from Lyle Taylor in added-on time condemned Nigel Pearson's team to the most demoralising of defeats, extending their winless run at Ashton Gate to 17 games.

Bristol City have now blown several leads in similar positions on familiar territory, putting the onus on more points needing to be achieved on the road.

On the plus side, they make the trip to The Hawthorns having prevailed in four of their last five away fixtures, giving them the third best return in the division.

West Bromwich Albion Championship form:

• D
• W
• W
• L
• W
• L

Bristol City Championship form:

• W
• D
• L
• W
• L
• L

Team News

Despite laying on the assist for Grant's goal versus Swansea, Callum Robinson may drop out of the Baggies XI for Jordan Hugill.

Robert Snodgrass will hope to make his first start of the season, while Adam Reach could be handed a chance in central midfield alongside Jayson Molumby.

Alex Mowatt is struggling to shake off a foot injury and Jake Livermore serves a suspension for five yellow cards.

Pearson will almost certainly make alterations after Bristol City failed to hold on against Forest.

Midfielder Han-Noah Massengo is available after recovering from injury, while Callum O'Dowda could get the nod over Nahki Wells.

West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Johnstone; Ajayi, Bartley, Clarke; Furlong, Livermore, Reach, Townsend; Phillips, Hugill, Grant

Bristol City possible starting lineup:
Bentley; Kalas, Atkinson, Baker; Tanner, Massengo, James, Scott, Dasilva; Weimann, Martin

We say: West Bromwich Albion 3-0 Bristol City

While both teams were left frustrated in midweek, we feel that there will be only one winner in this game. West Brom are in need of delivering a statement-like performance, and that could arrive against opponents who are low in belief.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 1.5:data

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