West Bromwich Albion vs Plymouth Argyle

Sat 21st Oct

Kick-off15:00

WBA West Brom

PLY Argyle

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The Game
West Bromwich Albion v Argyle. The Hawthorns. Saturday, 21 October. 3pm. Sky Bet Championship.

The Opposition
In their 12 games this season, in all competitions, West Bromwich Albion have had an equal number of wins, draws and losses. They began with at 2-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers before losing to Stoke City in the Carabao Cup by the same scoreline. Albion ended August strongly with home wins against Swansea City (3-2) and Middlesbrough (4-2) either side of a 1-1 draw at Leeds United, then lost 2-1 at home to Huddersfield Town.

There followed a run of three consecutive draws; 0-0 efforts at Bristol City and at home to Millwall, with a 2-2 at Watford in between. West Brom's standout result of the season was a 4-0 win at high-flying Preston North End, followed three days later with a 1-0 win at home to Sheffield Wednesday. Most recently, before the international window, Albion lost 3-1 at Birmingham City.

Accumulating 16 points from their 11 games places West Brom in 11th place at this stage, following their ninth-placed finish last season, three points outside the Championship play-off spots.

The Gaffer
Carlos Corberan took over at the Hawthorns with Albion in the relegation spots in October 2022. As evidenced above, the 40-year-old Spaniard has steadied the ship, taking West Brom up the league last season and has a current win percentage of 46.67%.

Carlos Corberan

As a player, Corberan only played at semi-professional level, having failed to make the grade at Valencia. He started his coaching career as a fitness coach at Villarreal and at several teams in Saudi Arabia, including at Al-Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo's current side, where he rose to the role assistant manager.

Corberan left in November 2016, bound for Cyprus, where he managed Doxa and Ermis. In 2017, he moved to England to be Leeds United's Under-23 coach, and he duties would soon include first-team coaching duties too, under Marcelo Bielsa.

He left Leeds in the summer of 2020, but stayed in Yorkshire, heading to manage Huddersfield Town. After finishing 20th in his first season, he took Huddersfield to third in his second, losing in the play-offs. He resigned soon after, then joined Olympiacos but was sacked after 11 games.

The Squad
West Brom's top goalscorer is John Swift, with six goals already to his name, but he is likely to miss this game via injury.

Alex Mowatt, the former Barnsley man who spent last season on loan at Middlesbrough, is a candidate to replace Swift. Mowatt (pictured below) has four starts and five substitute appearances to his name this season, and might have a chance to shine. His only goal this season came in Albion's win at Preston.

Alex mowatt

First-choice goalkeeper at the Hawthorns is Alex Palmer. Kidderminster-born Palmer, 27, has been associated with West Brom throughout his career. Coming through the ranks of the club, he had a series of short loan spells out, but it was with Argyle that he had his breakthrough season. He impressed in the Greens' goal during Argyle's promotion season of 2019/20, then had a season in nets on loan at Lincoln City.

He got into the West Brom team last season, replacing another former Argyle loanee, David Button, and is now firmly first-choice goalkeeper.

Alex Palmer

Fancy a Stat?
Argyle scored nine hat-tricks in the 1990s - and two of them were against West Brom. Sean McCarthy scored all three goals in a 3-0 away win in April 1990, and Steve Castle bagged three when the Greens won 5-2 at the Hawthorns in 1993.

The History
The two sides have only met 37 times in their histories. Argyle have won 15, Albion 14, with eight draws. In the six games between the sides in Argyle's last Championship stint, Albion won five, with one draw. The most recent encounter came in February 2010, with West Brom winning 1-0 at Home Park.

A Strip for the Trip
Argyle will be wearing their green home kit for this game.

Tickets
Tickets for this game are sold out for Argyle supporters.

Argyle TV
Argyle TV’s pre-match show, with Charlie Price and Aaron Cusack, will begin at 2pm, and is available to watch for free on YouTube. Commentary will be provided from the Hawthorns from Rob McNichol and Ryan Brunt. International supporters can buy a match pass to watch the game, here.

West Bromwich Albion 0

Argyle 0

Argyle returned from the international break with an excellent display to earn a richly deserved point at West Bromwich Albion.

Chances were at a premium all afternoon, the Pilgrims were outstanding at the back and almost nicked all three points in a strong end to the game.

Argyle manager Steven Schumacher made six changes from the side beaten by Swansea a fortnight ago, with Michael Cooper back between the sticks after eight months out through injury. Mickel Miller, Lewis Gibson, Finn Azaz, Adam Randell and Kaine Kesler-Hayden also returned.

In a sprightly start at the Hawthorns, Alex Mowatt picked up a fraction of space for the hosts but his shot was deflected wide and, in a theme that would last the full 90 minutes, Argyle calmly dealt with the subsequent corner.

A thrust down the right from Kesler-Hayden kept the Baggies honest at the back before Ryan Hardie burst through in the right channel and his well-struck effort was held by former Pilgrim stopper Alex Palmer.

Azaz then picked up what would become the first of seven yellow cards for the Pilgrims, a strange total in a game that wasn’t nasty in any way. Bali Mumba was next on defensive duty, reading the intentions of a darting Grady Diangana to prevent a shot on goal.

In a first half bereft of real chances, Mumba and Morgan Whittaker attempted to bustle their way through the West Brom backline but the door was locked, while Cooper was serenely quiet in his return to first-team action.

The pattern remained similar after the break, Diangana had a shot deflected wide before Kesler-Hayden expertly thwarted a rampaging run from Jed Wallace, as both sides struggled to create a serious opening.

West Brom produced their first serious spell of pressure around the hour but, again, the clear chances proved elusive, and the Greens freshened up their attacking options with the introduction of Mustapha Bundu for Hardie, swiftly followed by Luke Cundle coming on for Jordan Houghton.

Bundu, who has looked lively emerging from the bench on a few occasions this season, found some room out wide and cut inside for a delicious curling effort that forced Palmer into the best save of the afternoon, tipping it wide at full stretch.

Azaz then crossed for the dangerous Bundu to force another corner, with the Greens looking the more likely team to pinch a late winner. Unfortunately, this was a day when the net refused to bulge.

Matt Butcher was a late replacement for Mumba and the deserved clean sheet was particularly pleasing for Cooper, who has endured a long road to recovery.

A solid point for Argyle, who turn their attention to the visit of Sheffield Wednesday in midweek.

West Bromwich Albion: 24 Alex Palmer; 2 Darnell Furlong, 4 Cedric Kipre, 5 Kyle Bartley (6 Semi Ajayi 78), 7 Jed Wallace, 10 Matty Phillips, 11 Grady Diangana (31 Tom Fellowes 78), 14 Nathaniel Chalobah (8 Jayson Molumby 66), 15 Erik Pieters (3 Conor Townsend 59), 21 Brandon Thomas-Assante, 27 Alex Mowatt (35 Okay Yokuslu 78). Substitutes (not used): 33 Josh Griffiths (gk), 26 Pipa, 36 Caleb Taylor, 38 Akeel Higgins.

Booked: Mowatt 35, Bartley 77

Argyle: 1 Michael Cooper; 2 Bali Mumba (7 Matt Butcher 88), 4 Jordan Houghton (capt) (28 Luke Cundle 66), 6 Dan Scarr, 9 Ryan Hardie (15 Mustapha Bundu 66), 10 Morgan Whittaker, 14 Mickel Miller, 17 Lewis Gibson, 18 Finn Azaz, 20 Adam Randell, 29 Kaine Kesler-Hayden. Substitutes (not used): 21 Conor Hazard (gk), 3 Macaulay Gillepshey, 5 Julio Pleguezuelo, 8 Joe Edwards, 16 Lewis Warrington, 23 Ben Waine.

Booked: Azaz 27, Houghton 42, Scarr 50, Miller 55, Mumba 84, Cooper 85, Kesler-Hayden 86

Referee: Stephen Martin

Attendance: 24,736 (1,985 away)