West Brom v Millwall: Baggies have new heroes to cheer on
After their flurry of deadline day activity, the Baggies could field half a new team tomorrow.
Charlie Austin, Grady Diangana, Matheus Pereira and Chris Willock are all available for selection.
But following a composed opening-day victory over Nottingham Forest and just one training session in between Thursday’s frenzy and this game, Slaven Bilic is unlikely to make too many changes.
Kyle Edwards and Matt Phillips each scored from the wing against Forest, and will most likely keep their spots in the team, leaving Diangana and Pereira to make a statement from the bench.
Austin has come to The Hawthorns for regular football after being frozen out at Southampton, and looks set to battle for a starting place up front with fellow summer signing Kenneth Zohore.
In pre-season, Slaven Bilic admitted he wanted to play with two strikers, so there’s always a chance they will play together, but Filip Krovinovic has impressed behind a lone striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
The Croatian playmaker is expected to keep his place against Millwall, in a game Albion will require creativity.
But thanks to yesterday’s business, Bilic now has options at his disposal. He can switch between different systems if necessary.
His first game at The Hawthorns – a goalless draw with Bournemouth in pre-season – was a highly-encouraging affair.
All 5,000 Baggies inside the ground walked away with a spring in their step.
But Bilic has a significantly stronger squad for his first competitive game on home soil, when there will be far more fans to impress.
As well as the five signings made since then, he will also welcome back Chris Brunt and Hal Robson-Kanu from suspension.
We will get a better idea of his preferred line-up, and backed by a busy deadline day and a home crowd eagerly anticipating the new season, the ground could be bouncing.
It’s unlikely to match the last competitive game at The Hawthorns, the semi-final play-off against Villa, when you could feel the very foundations shaking.
But there’s no escaping the feel-good factor is back at the Baggies after a summer rebuild which appears to have been navigated successfully.
Neil Harris’s men won’t make it easy, and they will be buoyed by their opening day victory, but the Baggies will be firm favourites to build on their own strong start on home turf with a raft of new faces in tow.
Likely line-up:
Subs: Bond, Furlong, O’Shea, Harper, Pereira, Diangana, Zohore.
Millwall: (4-4-1-1) Fielding, M Wallace, Cooper, Pearce, Romeo, Mahoney, Thompson, Williams, J Wallace, O’Brien, Smith.
Memory lane:
October 1983
Albion overturned a three-goal deficit from the first leg of a second-round League Cup tie with Millwall by thrashing the Lions 5-1 at The Hawthorns in order to progress to the next round.
The Baggies, who were a First Division side at the time, were shocked 3-0 by Third Division Millwall at The Den, a notoriously hostile ground to visit in the 1980s.
But Cyrille Regis and Garry Thompson each bagged a brace in the second leg to send Albion through. Gary Owen completed the rout from the penalty spot.
The Baggies beat Chelsea in the next round thanks to another goal from Thompson, but were knocked out by arch rivals Villa in the fourth round, losing 2-1.
Two years previously, Albion reached the semi-finals of both the League Cup and FA Cup.
Key battle:
Kieran Gibbs v Jed Wallace
Former Wolves winger Jed Wallace looked dangerous for Millwall in their meetings with Albion last season and he got this season off to a great start, scoring in an opening-day 1-0 win over Preston North End.
A tricky customer, the right-sided winger will be up against one player the Baggies did well to keep this window in Kieran Gibbs.
The former Arsenal left-back is one of Albion’s most composed players, but based on the opening-day victory over Nottingham Forest, he will be given license to get forward under Slaven Bilic.
Can Wallace capitalise on the space in behind him? Will he be willing to track Gibbs’s piercing runs up the wing? It may not be where the game is won or lost, but this battle could provide significant flashpoints in the game.
