Lewis Cox brings you all the latest ahead of Albion's midweek clash with Blackburn Rovers.
Albion take on their play-off rivals at The Hawthorns on Wednesday evening - and Lewis has chatted with Baggies boss Tony Mowbray ahead of the game.
Albion take on their play-off rivals at The Hawthorns on Wednesday evening - and Lewis has chatted with Baggies boss Tony Mowbray ahead of the game.
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00:00Good morning, Baggies fans, from a dreary Albion training ground in Warsaw, where we've just caught up with Tony Mowbray bright and early ahead of tomorrow night's Wednesday night's clash against Blackburn Rovers in the Championship.
00:14Fifth against six in the Championship, isn't it? So when it gets to this point in the season, approaching the business end and it's fifth against six, you know, it's a pretty big one and it will be and hopefully an extension of certainly the climax to Saturday's dramatic late win against Sheffield Wednesday, of course.
00:29Which made it two wins from two at home for the return in Mowbray back at the club. So something certainly to build on there and the home form has been better of late, hasn't it?
00:39So Blackburn, the visitors from Ewood Park, they bring with them uncertainty, don't they? At the time of speaking, of recording, John Eustace is just about still in the building as Rovers head coach.
00:51But by all accounts, he is set to depart for Derby County, you know, to be leaving a club in sixth, to be heading to a club in the relegation zone in the same division tells you something, doesn't it?
01:01About maybe the struggles going on there off the pitch, behind the scenes. So, yeah, I mean, remains to be seen there what plays out really. You'd imagine if Eustace does go and I don't imagine he would take charge at Albion tomorrow night because things seem pretty set, don't they?
01:17It will likely be his coaching staff, I think, or the club's coaching staff already in place that will take charge. Will that bring uncertainty? Possibly. Will it galvanise? Maybe. Who knows?
01:27But Blackburn clearly had a decent outfit this season, aren't they? You know, to be six at this stage of the season, obviously got something about them. But an opportunity for Albion where at home, you know, it's one where they need to take advantage of the improving home form from their surroundings at this stage of the season.
01:43In what is a bit of a six-pointer, really. I said that on the podcast yesterday. At this stage of the season against direct rivals, you want to be using these opportunities to create gaps, don't you? And hopefully Albion can do that.
01:53Not too long ago, less than 12 hours ago, I was at Solihull last night, Damson Park, to watch the under-21s and to watch Daryl Dike play and to watch Shemi Ajayi play.
02:03Tony Mowbray did likewise. He was there. Dike played 30 minutes in a 3-1 win over Newcastle, the first 30 minutes. Ajayi played the first 45. Both came through unscathed in good nick, which is great news.
02:14Neither will be involved tomorrow. That's the first thing to say. I think Ajayi's return to the first team forward will be a little quicker, smoother and maybe for the weekend at Millwall for Ajayi. Obviously a physical contest there.
02:29Dike watched his face, I think remains to be seen. Maybe Millwall comes too soon. Perhaps the following weekend at home to Oxford could be the date for him.
02:38Beyond that, fitness-wise, team news this morning. Not sure there's much else immediate to cover. We got a bit of an update on Josh Madger, who's not particularly near a return, but Tony Mowbray speaking about the top scorer.
02:51He's been out for a little while now, hasn't he? A few weeks and isn't set for a return until March time at the earliest. So keep an eye out on that over the next day or so.
03:00Expressenstar website for that. We'll bring all the preview stuff for Blackburn, all of the reaction from Tony Mowbray to being at last night's Under-21s game as he gets a first glimpse of Dike, of Ajayi, of the club's promising youth players, of which there are many and several caught the eye in Solihull last night.
03:18So that was a positive. Yeah, all the reaction to that. We'll, of course, be at the Hawthorns tomorrow night. All the build-up, all the reports from the game, all the reaction and whatnot and the video stuff. So keep an eye out. Plenty to come. I'm about to go and get in the warm because it's freezing. Keep an eye on expressenstar.com.