Championship | Gameweek 34

Feb 22, 2025 at 3pm UK

The Hawthorns

West Brom vs Oxford Utd

Match preview

Since Mowbray's return to the Black Country club in January, West Brom have won just two of their six Championship games, damaging their hopes of closing the gap on the chasing pack in the race for a top-six finish this term.

However, the Baggies picked up a respectable point at Millwall's London base last weekend, when a Joe Bryan own goal was enough to restore parity after Lions defender Jake Cooper had opened the scoring inside the opening 20 minutes.

West Brom's modest tally of four points from their last three games in the second tier has seen them drop to sixth in the Championship table ahead of Saturday's visit of Oxford, just one point above a resurgent Coventry City side who are thriving under Frank Lampard.

Only Burnley (0), Sunderland (0) and Leeds United (1) have suffered fewer home defeats in the Championship than the Baggies (2) this season, although Mowbray's men endured a sobering night at The Hawthorns last time out as a Makhtar Gueye brace won the day for managerless Blackburn Rovers.

Due to their well-documented problems with consistency, West Brom have not won back-to-back games in the second tier since September, and with games against Leeds and Burnley coming up in the next few weeks, Albion will need to produce an exceptional performance to end that run of form.

Since back-to-back home wins over Blackburn Rovers and relegation-threatened Luton Town in January, Oxford have suffered a worrying dip in form in the Championship, with Saturday afternoon's visitors currently in the midst of a five-game winless streak in which they have scored just once.

The U's suffered their 13th defeat in the second tier last time out when League One champions Portsmouth travelled to the Kassam Stadium and returned to the south coast with maximum points, with Andre Dozzell and Mark O'Mahony finding the net for Pompey.

With just three points from their last five games, Oxford have slipped to 16th in the Championship heading into this weekend's trip to the Black Country, but the newly promoted side still sit a comfortable nine points clear of Derby County at the top of the relegation zone.

Unsurprisingly, the second-tier minnows have been poor on the road so far in the 2024-25 campaign, winning just one of their 16 Championship away games to date, meaning that only Derby, Luton and Plymouth Argyle have collected fewer points away from home.

Only the Pilgrims (6) have scored fewer than Oxford's 10 away goals to date, with Rowett's side boasting Mark Harris as their current top scorer, although the Wales striker has only found the net once in the league since the end of August.

Recent Performance

West Bromwich Albion Championship form:LWLWLD

Oxford United Championship form:WDDLDL

Team News

West Brom defender Kyle Bartley, who was shown a straight red card at full-time against Sheffield Wednesday earlier this month, will serve the final game of his three-match suspension this weekend.

The Baggies suffered another injury blow last week when veteran Jed Wallace was ruled out for several weeks with a leg problem.

Daryl Dike, who made his long-awaited return to action at Millwall last time out, will be hoping to make an impact off the bench at The Hawthorns.

Oxford are short of options at the back, with both Gregory Leigh (muscle) and Elliott Moore (groin) currently in the visitors' dressing room.

The U's suffered a blow to their squad in early February when former Walsall striker Tom Bradshaw suffered a season-ending ligament injury.

Possible starting lineup

West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:

Wildsmith; Furlong, Ajayi, Heggem, Styles; Molumby, Mowatt; Fellows, Diangana, Johnston; Armstrong

Oxford United possible starting lineup:

Cumming; Kioso, Helik, Brown, Long; Vaulks, Brannagan; Placheta, Rodrigues, Romeny; Harris