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Upon appointing Carlos Corberan as their new head coach, optimism was naturally on the rise at West Bromwich Albion ahead of their meeting with an out-of-form Sheffield United side on Saturday afternoon.
However, West Brom again under-performed, finding themselves 2-0 down at the break and unable to recover as the Blades ensured that their hosts remained on two wins from 17 Championship fixtures during 2022-23.
Corberan will inevitably make alterations to his West Brom starting lineup with John Swift among the players pushing for a recall.
Either Swift or Jayson Molumby should come into the midfield, while Brandon Thomas-Asante appears to be in line to return down the centre of the attack.
Martin Kelly remained as an unused substitute against Sheffield United, but may get the nod in one of the positions in the back three.
Appleton did not make a single substitution during Blackpool’s win at Coventry and no injuries may lead to an unchanged team.
Dominic Thompson and Theo Corbeanu are alternatives at left-back and on the flank if Appleton wishes to freshen up his team.
West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Palmer; Kelly, O’Shea, Pieters; Furlong, Molumby, Gardner-Hickman, Townsend; Diangana, Wallace; Thomas-Asante
Blackpool possible starting lineup:
Maxwell; Connolly, Ekpiteta, Thorniley, Husband; Carey, Dougall, Patino; Yates, Madine, Hamilton
Although there is the expectation that the Baggies will eventually move out of trouble, they now sit in last place and as many as five points adrift of 20th-placed Wigan Athletic, an indication that they could get cut adrift if they continue to struggle for victories.
While West Brom have conceded no more than twice in any of their last six outings, there is a lack of cutting edge and balance to their performances, and facing an in-form Blackpool outfit has arguably come at the wrong time.
The West Midlands outfit are also without a win at The Hawthorns since August 20, a run which has now been extended to six matches.
Blackpool come into the game on the back of two straight Sky Bet Championship victories.
Michael Appleton’s side were forced to come from behind in their last encounter at the Coventry Building Society Arena, with goals from Gary Madine and Jerry Yates cancelling out Kasey Palmer’s first-half strike for Coventry City.
The Seasiders have struggled to find consistency so far through the campaign however, and have conceded in each of their last five fixtures. They’ve let 26 goals in so far this season, the third highest of any side in the division.
Should they manage three points at The Hawthorns, the Tangerines could lift themselves into the top half of the table.
It was a five-goal thriller at The Hawthorns back in 2010, when Albion got the better of Blackpool.
Charlie Adam’s long-range effort in the sixth minute got the Tangerines off to the best possible start, but it didn’t take long for the Baggies to peg them back via a tidy Ishmael Miller finish less than 10 minutes later.
Robert Koren’s piledriver gave Albion the lead in the second half, but it was Blackpool who would level the game with less than 20 minutes to go, Brett Ormerod heading past Scott Carson to set up a nail-biting finish.
It was Albion who would seal the points though, after Giles Barnes was deemed to have been fouled in the box, and Graham Dorrans tucked away from the spot to claim victory.
Albion will be hoping to extend their unbeaten run on home soil against Blackpool to 13 matches on Tuesday night.
The Baggies have won nine of the last 12 head-to-head meetings at The Hawthorns, drawing the other three.
Due to industrial action, there will be no metro services running after 6pm, fans are urged to plan ahead for their journeys to and from The Hawthorns.
Services will run from 7.30am to 6pm, with trams running up to every 15 minutes between Wolverhampton St George’s and Bull Street.
There will be no services between Bull Street and Edgbaston Village. Rail services are running as normal
Blackpool top scorer Jerry Yates has now netted nine times in 17 games this season
Coventry City blew their chance to escape the Championship bottom three for the first time this season as they allowed Blackpool to come from behind to win at the CBS Arena.
With the Sky Blues’ next home game in doubt against Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday night as their ongoing problems with their landlords persist, they appeared unaffected by this latest off-field issue when they went ahead through Kasey Palmer’s late first-half strike.
Callum O’Hare set up Palmer, whose right-foot shot found the bottom left corner but within eight minutes of the restart, Blackpool were level when former Coventry loan signing Gary Madine headed home James Husband’s cross.
A point would still have been enough for Mark Robins’ Sky Blues to escape the bottom three, but Blackpool had not read the script – and Jerry Yates scored his seventh goal in five games when he crowned the Seasiders’ comeback 10 minutes from time.
Coventry were down to the bare bones due to illness and injuries as Robins was forced into four changes from Tuesday’s 2-2 comeback draw at home to Rotherham.
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The injured Martyn Waghorn and Fankaty Dabo were replaced by O’Hare and Todd Kane, while Viktor Gyokeres and Michael Rose were left on the bench in favour of Palmer and Jonathan Panzo.
But, after three missed chances by Madine, the hosts went ahead when Palmer atoned for firing an earlier effort over the bar by latching onto O’Hare’s clever flick and threading the ball through Blackpool defender Jordan Thorniley’s legs before slotting calmly into the bottom corner for his first goal for Coventry.
Madine got on the end of Husband’s cross with a fantastic header for a deserved equaliser before Yates won all three points.
Husband was again the supply line, crossing from the left for Yates to head back across goal and secure the win.
Who’s next?
While doubts remain over whether or where Coventry City will play Blackburn on Tuesday night, 15th-placed Blackpool will be at bottom club West Bromwich Albion.