Carlos Corberan happy to see plenty of West Brom fan award candidates

The Baggies are working to seal their play-off position in the Championship with two fixtures left, at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday and at home to Preston on the final day on May 4.

Corberan’s men have maintained their position of fifth for much of the season in an impressive show of consistency without a runaway 20-goal top scorer, creator-in-chief or defender or midfielder considered for the official Championship team of the season decided by the EFL.

Supporters have this week been voting online for their player of the season, with a deadline of 1pm today, and while a select few are likely to garner the most attention – there is a wider list of potential candidates discussed.

“I think if you do an exercise with people to say ‘name the first XI’ – I don’t know how many people would have it in common normally in football,” Corberan said.

“But for me this is positive because it means everyone is giving a good level. If you tell me there are many candidates, it’s something I consider as a positive thing.

“I think many players are doing very well, that’s why we have achieved 40 points in the last 25 games or even more points over more games.”

Two players in the running to land the fans’ gong are a duo that spent last season away from The Hawthorns – Cedric Kipre and Alex Mowatt.

The centre-back and central midfielder were surplus to requirements under Steve Bruce but Corberan immediately identified them as options that would fit into his plans.

Other candidates are goalkeeper Alex Palmer – whose 17 clean sheets in 44 games is the second-most in the division – and midfielder Okay Yokuslu, a stalwart in the side.

Jed Wallace has also been an influence in a couple of roles and right-back Darnell Furlong has earned praise for an eye-catching campaign.

Winger duo Tom Fellows, the academy graduate, and January loanee Mikey Johnston have also been central to Albion’s charge in the second half of the campaign.

Corberan continued of his side’s form: “Still we have two games. We are not perfect because if we are perfect we would be the first one and promoted. Are we perfect? No. Many games we could play better? Yes. Games we could have managed a part of better? Yes. But if we give all our best, I am always happy with my team.”

While voting remains open, supporters can cast their vote on the club’s website.

Albion’s head coach takes his side to South Yorkshire for Saturday’s penultimate game of the regular season and is under no illusions about the challenge of facing an Owls side fighting for survival.

Wednesday are out of the bottom three by a solitary point and can give their chances a huge boost with a positive result as rivals Huddersfield and Blues face each other elsewhere.

The head coach said: “We have our ambitions – we are fighting for our target, we want to make the play-offs, that’s what we want to achieve.

“We know we need to win games to achieve that. With the points we have right now, it’s not enough. We need to win games. but we are still in the final part of this race.

“We are fighting for this, so let’s say the level of motivation cannot be bigger, it’s impossible, because you have something to fight for.

“The motivation for them to win is the same, cannot be bigger, because they are fighting to survive.