Johnny Phillips: Derby is huge – but is it a distraction for West Brom?
When the dust settles on tomorrow’s Black Country derby, there will be an backnowledgement that Carlos Corberan has bigger fish to fry this season.
While supporters will be fully engaged in the parochial cauldron of this rivalry, the Albion manager knows that meaningful success will come only with promotion to the Premier League in May.
Last weekend’s defeat to Norwich City added fuel to the suggestion that the club’s away form could derail a promotion push.
Four defeats in their last five on the road is in stark contrast to the three wins out of the last four at The Hawthorns in the Championship. The team is losing pace with those at the top, with a distant 12-point gap opening up to Leeds United one place above them and a further two points to Ipswich Town in second spot.
Corberan appears as perplexed as supporters when considering the reasons for the chalk and cheese form of home and away.
He even went as far as the simple instruction: “Let’s play today in the same way we play in our own stadium,” as he sent his players out at Carrow Road on Saturday, but it made little difference to the outcome.
With last Saturday’s opponents and Coventry City finding form of late, the pressure is on just to maintain a place in the play-off picture.
With the second half of the season well under way, this promises to be one of the most thrilling promotion chases that Championship has witnessed in years, with so many big clubs battling it out for the automatic and play-off places.
