Having broken his 913-day goal draught against Huddersfield Town in the EFL Cup, I think Gary Rowett will take the pressure of Saido Berahino as we face his former side this weekend.
A 2-0 second round win on Tuesday evening to book our place in the third round of the competition saw Berahino find the back of the net to open his club account following his big-money move after making enemies at The Hawthorns.
All the focus will be on him as we go into the tie, so for that reason alone, I’d leave him on the bench.
West Brom head coach Darren Moore is probably expecting him to start and understandably so as the confidence boost he’ll have taken from our last game, added to the sense of relief at finally scoring, the gut instinct is ‘go and do it again’.
I think Rowett will take that pressure off, and use him in the second half at best as to not see him falter and fall back again.
Butland, Pieters, Martins Indi, Shawcross, Martina, McClean, Allen, Etebo, Bojan, Afobe, Crouch.
Some got a run out in midweek, most didn’t so I imagine it’ll largely be the side that faced Hull City and took victory in our last Championship match as we go for three wins on the spin across all competitions.
