Nottingham Forest v West Brom: Romaine Sawyers ready for an emotional day
Tomorrow promises to be an emotional day for Romaine Sawyers, yet whatever his personal feelings the midfielder is determined to remain focused on the task at hand.
Having previously represented Albion at every level except first-team, the 27-year-old will complete the set as the Baggies begin the new Championship season away at Nottingham Forest.
“It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it,” he said. “Coming to the club as a seven-year-old. I can still remember signing my first contract with my mum being here.
“It is hard to put into words what it will mean to me but ultimately we just have to get on with it.”
Sawyers is one of five summer arrivals at The Hawthorns to this point and all are likely to play their part at the City Ground Slaven Bilic takes charge of his first competitive match.
Such numbers, let alone the presence of Bilic in the dugout, serve as a reminder to the scale of change since last season ended in such abrupt, heartbreaking fashion in the play-offs.
Of the 11 players who started the semi-final second leg against Villa, only four are likely to be in tomorrow’s line-up, with Sam Johnstone, Kyle Bartley, Kieran Gibbs and Matt Phillips the surviving quartet.
Chris Brunt will miss the game through suspension following his sending off against Villa, while Hal Robson-Kanu will also serve the final match of a three-match ban carried over from last season. Defender Ahmed Hegazi misses out as he continues his recovery from ankle surgery.
The Egyptian international will likely have a big part to play when he returns next month and it is worth remembering Albion are beginning the season with their summer rebuild still some way from complete.
At least another three players are expected to arrive before next Thursday’s transfer deadline and Bilic’s best XI is likely to change considerably over the opening weeks of the campaign.
Albion, in theory, should only get stronger as the pace of the season picks up.
For his part, Sawyers will aim to establish a position in the middle of the park having returned to The Hawthorns a far more rounded midfielder than the one who departed six years ago.
Once an attacking No.10, he played a much deeper role for Brentford last season.
And he quipped: “It’s because I am getting slower!”
Sawyers continued: “I think mentally I still sometimes think I am a No.10. But as I am maturing into the game I am finding my feet and what works for me as well as the people around me. As an individual I would want to play as a 10 but I am very much a team player.
“For my strengths and the team I will be deeper back. At the end of the day we all want the same thing. Being back, of course I have a point to prove, but just because it’s West Bromwich Albion doesn’t mean it is a bigger point because I am still a professional athlete and I have a job to do. It just probably means more because this place feels like home.”
The opposition: Summer of change at Forest
Albion might have gone through a summer of change, yet it has been nowhere near as jolting as that experienced by tomorrow’s hosts.
Pre-season was already several days old when Nottingham Forest made the shock decision to dispense with Martin O’Neill’s services after just five months in charge, with the former Villa boss having lost the confidence of several senior players.
In what must rank among the quickest appointments in sporting history, Sabri Lamouchi was unveiled as his successor on the club’s official website just 18 minutes later.
The 47-year-old Frenchman has previously managed the Ivory Coast and Rennes but this is by some distance his most high-profile job to date.
It is unlikely he will have experienced quite the same expectation and pressure which currently exists at the City Ground, with ambitious chairman Evangelos Marinakis having already axed two managers since the start of the year.
A club which has links to Jorge Mendes has again been busy in the transfer window, with midfielder Tiago Silva – one of three Portugeuse recruits – the most exciting of the new signings.
Albert Adomah, signed following his release from Villa, brings plenty of promotion experience, while in Lewis Grabban, Forest continue to possess one of the most potent strikers in the Championship.
“I just want to start in a good way,” said Lamouchi. “I’m just focused on August and nothing else.
“I know the target from the club.”
Likely line-up:
Subs: O’Shea, Ferguson, Townsend, Field, Leko, Burke, Bond.
Forest: (4-2-3-1) Muric, Cash, Dawson, Worrall, Robinson, Watson, Semedo, Lolley, Silva, Adomah, Grabban.
Memory lane:
Saturday, November 29, 2003
Jason Koumas was at the double as Albion recorded an emphatic 3-0 win at the City Ground, to cement their place at the top of Division One.
Koumas opened the scoring the 38th minute for Gary Megson’s team with a looping long-range effort, which flew over the head of Forest keeper Darren Ward.
He then provided the cross from which Matthieu Louis-Jean put through his own net to double the Baggies’ advantage before the break.
Hosts Forest pushed in vain for a way back during the second half but Koumas had the final word, firing home his second in the 90th minute.
The key battle:
Kieran Gibbs v Joe Lolley
Former Arsenal left-back Gibbs will be one of four survivors from the second leg play-off exit to Villa likely to be named in the first XI of the new season.
The 29-year-old will know he will be in for a battle against ex-Kidderminster winger Lolley, who enjoyed an excellent 2018/19 campaign despite Forest’s own push for the top six eventually fizzling out.
The 26-year-old netted 11 goals in 46 Championship appearances and also contributed 11 assists on his way to being named the club’s player of the season.
