Championship leaders West Bromwich Albion will be looking to take another stride towards sealing automatic promotion when they host Preston North End on Tuesday evening.
Albion have recovered from a mid-season wobble by taking 13 points from the last 15 on offer, while Preston are also in good form an enter this fixture sitting sixth in the table.
Match preview
© Reuters
Albion maintained their positive run of form with a comfortable 3-0 win at Bristol City on Saturday, despite losing Romaine Sawyers to a red card in the second half.
Hal-Robson Kanu scored twice and Callum Robinson was also on target at Ashton Gate to give their side a nine-point lead over third-placed Fulham.
That victory went a long way to boosting Preston's own hopes of reaching the Premier League as they are now three points better off than Bristol City in the final play-off berth.
Alex Neil's men recovered from a goal down to overcome Hull City 2-1 in their most recent fixture, with Alan Browne netting the winner following Paul Gallagher's own goal to level up.
© Reuters
Since losing three in a row around the turn of the year, Preston have now lost just one of their last eight, winning five of those.
They are unbeaten in six on their travels in the Championship, meanwhile, and have won each of the last three by a 7-1 aggregate scoreline.
West Brom may be sitting pretty at the top of the division, but they hardly boast the best home record as they have won only one of their last six at The Hawthorns.
No team has been as consistent as Slaven Bilic's side this term, though, and after overcoming Bristol City confidence will be high of sweeping aside another playoff hopeful.
West Bromwich Albion's Championship form: LWWWDW
Preston North End's Championship form: WDWWLW
Team News
© Reuters
Sawyers' suspension, combined with the quick turnaround in fixtures, means Bilic will be forced into tinkering with his starting lineup.
Filip Krovinovic could be used in a deeper midfield position, which may mean Kamil Grosicki featuring out wide.
Robson-Kanu is expected to lead the line after scoring his eighth and ninth Championship goals of the campaign last time out.
However, Grady Diangana, Nathan Ferguson and Gareth Barry are all out of the midweek clash through injury.
As for Preston, Browne may have forced his way into the starting XI after scoring the winner from the bench against Hull.
Daniel Johnson will not feature due to a knock, meanwhile, and there is also no Louis Moult, Billy Bodin or Tom Bayliss because of injury.
West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Johnstone; O'Shea, Bartley, Ajayi, Townsend; Livermore, Krovinovic; Grosicki, Pereira, Robinson; Robson-Kanu
Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Rudd; Fisher, Bauer, Davies, Hughes; Pearson, Gallagher, Browne; Harrop, Barkhuizen, Sinclair
We say: West Brom 1-1 Preston
Both sides have been tough to beat of late, losing just one of their last 13 games between them. Preston have been impressive on the road and Albion a little shaky at home, so we are backing this one to finish all square.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a win with a probability of 52.91%. A draw had a probability of 26.1% and a win for had a probability of 21%.
The most likely scoreline for a win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.38%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.83%) and 2-1 (9.13%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.11%), while for a win it was 0-1 (8.04%).
