Middlesbrough v West Brom - Match preview

Michael Carrick’s men booked their place in the final four of the Carabao Cup this week, a competition they last won two decades ago while a top-flight outfit, and have been drawn against Chelsea in the semi-final.

Howwer, in the league, Boro are down in 13th – but only six points below the fifth-placed Baggies.

Albion face a testing 10 days with home clashes against Norwich, slowly improving under David Wagner, and Leeds, who won’t have given up on bridging the current 10-point gap to Ipswich in second.

The Baggies will then spend New Year in south Wales and hope to replicate a recent win in Cardiff with success at neighbours Swansea, who have been without a manager since sacking Michael Duff on December 5 and are currently 18th.

It’s a week-and-a-half that can shape, if not define, the second half of the Baggies’ season.

Corberan, who was appointed one day after Carrick in October 2022, will target maximum spoils in all four fixtures but knows visiting Boro, who while decimated with injuries, will be a challenge.

Albion will relish familiar and comfortable surroundings against the Canaries on Boxing Day and Corberan’s former employer Leeds on December 29. The Spaniard’s home record since his appointment has been excellent, though these two fixtures will be no picnic for the Baggies as they aim to strengthen a position inside the top six.

Corberan’s squad options for the trip to Teesside – Albion will travel today and stay over as per usual away trip logistics – are thin. The attacking conundrum shows little sign of easing with Corberan expected to give an update on John Swift at his pre-Middlesbrough press briefing today.

Attacking midfielder Swift was sent for tests on his hamstring this week after fatigue he felt in the muscle forced the former Reading man to miss out from the draw against Stoke last weekend.

Brandon Thomas-Asante – who the Baggies could lose to international duty with Ghana in the African Cup of Nations next month – will be required to lead the line again in Josh Maja and Daryl Dike’s absence, unless Jed Wallace plies a lone role.

Corberan will also decide whether youngster Tom Fellows is in line for a first start of his breakthrough campaign to freshen up an attack that has been flogged for a handful of consecutive games. Jayson Molumby has also been a more unlikely option in an attacking midfield role.

Corberan and Carrick became the fifth and sixth longest-serving bosses in the division this week when Steven Schumacher left Plymouth for Stoke.

The pair’s trajectory were similar last term, as both led their sides from the lower reaches of the table into play-off contention – and while Albion tailed away Carrick’s men made it to the play-offs, where they lost to Coventry.