Promotion Watch: Baggies Still Aiming High

West Bromwich Albion's current form may have been a little shaky in recent matches but after two consecutive wins now for West Brom after a 4-2 victory against Hull City yesterday they now see themselves five points clear of an automatic promotion place with five games remaining.  Their next match sees them come up against Derby County at home on Wednesday, another Midlands team pushing for promotion this season, with a much-needed win for Philip Cocu's side to help them book a place in the play-offs. 

Slaven Bilic has played down Kieran Gibbs's injury against Hull yesterday by stating it is just a minor hamstring injury, and that'll he will be back 'very, very soon'. Talking to a club spokesperson he had this to say - 'of course, it is important how the player feels about such an injury but it was good to hear Gibbo being very positive about things today.'

Giving his overall account of the match, Bilic appeared to be happy with the attacking commitment of his team, and the fact that four different players got on the scoresheet against City. West Brom's attacking prowess has shown in the table stats, they are the second-highest goalscoring team this season (71 goals scored) just two behind 3rd place Brentford, and 8 more goals scored than 1st place Leeds United. 

For the last couple of decades, West Brom have had to take a lot of stick for 'yo-yoing' in and out of the Premier League, if they do achieve the likely prospect of promotion at the end of this season, it will be their 13th appearance in the competition since it started in 1992. Their record for most consecutive seasons in the premiership stands at 8 from 2010-2011 to 2017-2018 and managed a top-half finish with an 8th place to boast in the 2012-2013 season. Another good run this time around should be enough for people to cut them a bit of slack!