Lewis Cox's predicted West Brom line-up vs Sunderland
Carlos Corberan’s big call at Sunderland tonight is who he selects in place of Darnell Furlong.
The head coach described it as a “massive challenge” to be without the ever-present right-back, who is suspended, for the first time in his Baggies tenure.
He has options to fill in the void but none of them are ideal and may disrupt the rest of his side.
In my predicted side for the Stadium of Light I have opted for the return of Kyle Bartley to the heart of defence to shuffle Mason Holgate out to right-back.
Bartley returned to training last Thursday after a month out of the side and Corberan expected him to train on Sunday and Monday. The head coach was unsure on Saturday whether Bartley would be ready for a recall having originally predicted Preston on Saturday as a more likely timeframe.
Other options could affect his backline with the potential of moving Callum Styles from left-back or Torbjorn Heggen from the middle.
The head coach may opt to change totally to a back five and use wing-backs. That would mean incorporating another centre-back - possibly Bartley or possibly midfielder Ousmane Diakite - and then you could look to Tom Fellows, Jed Wallace or perhaps Lewis Dobbin as a possible right wing-back.
