West Brom are back in action once again this afternoon with an away clash against Bristol City, after their impressive 1-0 victory over Championship leaders Fulham in midweek.

Heading into today’s match, the Baggies are currently six places and 10 points above today’s opponents, and they will be looking to increase that gap with another win here.

On the chalkboard

In terms of which players Steve Bruce could select in his starting XI today, one man who has been an unused substitute for the past three league games but we feel should finally be in from the beginning on this occasion is Dara O’Shea.

The 23-year-old played the full 90 minutes in all five of West Brom’s opening league games of the season before unfortunately suffering a serious ankle injury which kept him out of action until February.

Since then, the Irishman has appeared in three of the Baggies’ eight league matches, but he hasn’t had a look-in since their 2-0 defeat against Swansea City at the end of last month.

With just eight league appearances under his belt this term, the defender – who has been described as a “confident” figure by Callum Robinson and who “plays with his heart on his sleeve” according to Bruce – has still earned an overall performance rating of 7.28/10 from WhoScored, making him West Brom’s highest-rated player.

Even though the trio of Semi Ajayi, Kyle Bartley and Matt Clarke kept a clean sheet against a Fulham side who have scored 90 goals in 37 league games this season, this could be a good time for Bruce to give one of them a rest and bring O’Shea in and do a solid job for them after spending such a long time out.

Despite being well behind Albion in the league table, Bristol City have still scored 47 league goals in the current campaign, more than any other side in the bottom half of the table, so it could be a tough challenge for the Baggies – and O’Shea, if he is selected – to keep another clean sheet.

However, with the Robins having won just three of their 10 previous league games, Bruce will definitely be aiming to see his side pick up another win and move further up their table.

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