Crunch time for the Baggies

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·17 April 2025

Crunch time for the Baggies

Coventry City v West Bromwich Albion; CBS Arena, Friday 18th December 2025, 3pm

There were plenty of grumbles when it was announced that Coventry City would be charging £37 for tickets in the away end at the CBS Arena for the visit of West Bromwich Albion, but there would be few Baggies fans without a ticket for Friday’s match that would baulk at that price were they to be offered one today. It is quite simply the biggest game of Albion’s season to date and, should they be beaten, if could arguably be their last meaningful match of the campaign.

Last week’s trip to Ashton Gate was very much a six-pointer, and this match is the same, only this time there aren’t enough games to recover. Of course, mathematically, defeat wouldn’t end Albion’s play-off hopes and other results on Friday could go the Baggies’ way, but it would leave Mowbray’s team with only very slight hopes. As things stand, that Albion are playing the team in sixth place on Friday means that a top six finish remains in their own hands – only a victory at the CBS Arena will keep it that way.

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The run of three successive defeats was brought to an end with victory against Watford at the weekend. The nature of the victory was unusual for Mowbray’s team in that Albion didn’t dominate possession and looked more dangerous on the break. The Baggies’ head coach was somewhat conflicted in that he was happy with the win, but not completely enamoured by how it was achieved. However, that Albion can play in that way could prove useful for Friday’s game, of course, as Lampard’s team are likely to want to have more of the ball, and indeed they did look vulnerable on the break at Hull City on Monday night, something a better team may have taken better advantage of.

One thing that Mowbray was happy with was the performance of Will Lankshear. The young Spurs loanee led the line superbly and, while he will be disappointed not to have taken one of the chances he had, both the reception he received when he was taken off, and his head coach’s words afterwards, will have given him a lot of confidence. It seems clear that he will start again on Friday, and I would be surprised if he was not once again flanked by Johnston and Fellows with Grant just in behind. In fact, I am expecting an unchanged starting line up barring any injuries, although the bench may look a little different should Tammer Bany and/or Ousmane Diakité be deemed fit enough to be included in the squad.

While I felt Mowbray got his starting eleven right against Watford, I would have brought on Dike rather than Armstrong to replace Lankshear. I felt the team’s momentum dropped without a proper focal point to the front line, something that Armstrong has consistently failed to provide in his time at the Hawthorns. Of course, Armstrong will be keen to feature having enjoyed a successful season with the Sky Blues on loan from Newcastle United in 2015/16 when they were in League One.

Coventry City were as low as 17th when the club took the decision to dismiss Mark Robins and, after Lampard took over at the end of November, it took a while for the former Chelsea and England midfielder to turn results around. When they did however, it was dramatic – after defeat to Norwich City in mid-January, the Sky Blues were in 15th place, but a run of nine victories in ten Championship games propelled them into fifth place by 8th March. Since then, however, the pressure of having something to protect has showed somewhat and the have only picked up seven points from the last six games albeit that has included games against three of the top four, one of whom, Sunderland, they beat 3-0.

Lampard’s team now sit in sixth place after a draw a Hull City on Monday evening, three points ahead of Albion. After Friday, they play two struggling sides in Plymouth Argyle and Luton Town before what could be a showdown game at home to Middlesbrough on the final day. While defeat could spell the end for Albion, the Sky Blues will feel that they are still bang in the mix even if they do lose to the Baggies.

For Albion, of course, they need to do something that has alluded them for much of the season, win consecutive games and win away from home. They have only won once on the road since September and haven’t won consecutive games since then. That has to change now if they are to retain a hope of extending their season beyond 3rd May.

History

If there was one Championship team that Albion fans might want to face in such a big game based purely on the recent head-to-head record, Coventry City might just be it. The Baggies have been beaten by the Sky Blues only three times in 18 meetings in the 21st century, and only once at their current home. Indeed, City have scored only twice in home fixtures against Albion since they made the move to what is now known as the CBS Arena in 2005, and only once did that earn them all three points, when Viktor Gyökeres’ stoppage time goal interrupted a run of victories under Carlos Corberán in December 2022.

Under Tony Mowbray, Albion have won all three of their visits to what was then the Ricoh Arena. In April 2007, Paul Robinson scored the only goal in a game that saw both City’s Ben Turner and Diomansay Kamara sent off while, when the Baggies returned that November, Michael Mifsud took an early bath for the hosts and Mogga’s team ran out 4-0 winners with second half goals from Paul Robinson. Filipe Teixeira (2) and Robert Koren. Finally, the Sky Blues were Albion’s fifth round opponents in that season’s FA Cup by which time Coventry boss Iain Dowie had been sacked and they were under the caretaker control of John Harbin and Frankie Bunn. A rampant Baggies team went one better that they had in the league encounter to win 5-0 with Chris Brunt, Roman Bednár (2), Ishmael Miller and Zoltán Gera the scorers – the hosts were once again reduced to ten men with Micky Doyle receiving his marching orders just after half time.

Given the time of the year and the high stakes of the game, perhaps the most similar game between Coventry and Albion was on Easter Monday 2002. After Wolves had been beaten by Man City in the lunchtime kick-off, Gary Megson’s team knew they cold draw level with their Black Country neighbours with a victory at Highfield Road – they duly delivered with Super Bobby Taylor scoring the only goal of the game after 16 minutes. The man who replaced Taylor in the second half, Trevor Benjamin, received two yellow cards from referee Graham Poll leaving Albion hanging on for the last six minutes with ten men.