Any hopes West Brom fans had of having a comfortable last game of the season disappeared as they lost 3-0 to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
Wednesday have enjoyed a real resurgence of late that may well keep them in the Championship, but the Baggies would have been confident they could wrap up their play-off place against the side 21st in the league.
With seventh place Hull City playing out a dramatic 3-3 with Ipswich Town in the late kick-off, West Brom are now just two points ahead of the Tigers going into the final day.
Fortunately for Carlos Corberan‘s side they boast a far greater goal difference than Hull so a point against a Preston side with nothing to play for will see them finish in the play-offs.
The emphatic loss also saw West Brom lose a 17-year-record, having not lost to Wednesday since 2007.
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What is more pressing for Corberan, though, is the impact the result has on the club’s future and the Spaniard has spoken on the reason he feels his side lost the clash at Hillsborough.
Carlos Corberan on why West Brom lost to Sheffield Wednesday
Corberan made one change to the side that narrowly lost to Leicester City a week prior, as Matt Phillips came in for Alex Mowatt.
This was Phillips’ first start since retuning from injury, with the 33-year-old potentially having a big part to play should West Brom make the play-offs.
Jed Wallace continued to operate as a makeshift striker despite the return from suspension of Brandon Thomas-Asante, but was unable to follow up his goal against Leicester with another here.
Corberan identified the reason for the loss speaking to the official club website post-match as he said: “I think it was clear that we didn’t compete at the level which was needed today to be able to pick up the result we wanted.
“It’s important now to analyse the reasons for that. We are one group of players and one group of staff members who will always take responsibility. You have to find the solutions on the back of a result like this.”
The 41-year-old also explained the thinking behind the one change in personnel for this game, explaining: “We made a change to play with Matt Phillips who is a winger instead of Alex Mowatt who is a midfielder. We kept Okay in the XI because we knew how important the set-pieces would be and how important the second balls would be.
“We wanted to get a winger into the team instead of having three midfielders in the XI.”
Corberan must pick players up for Preston
West Brom cannot afford to have another off day as they welcome Preston to The Hawthorns for a game they hope will not be their last of the campaign.
Corberan spoke prior to the Wednesday game about how his focus is purely on getting as many points as possible, but that objective may now have changed to simply securing play-offs at whatever cost.
The ex-Huddersfield Town boss must now help his players brush off the 3-0 defeat ahead of a crucial last game of the season.
If West Brom do manage to finish in the top six it will represent a really positive season – especially given the financial situation of the club – but to come so close and miss out would be heartbreaking.
In truth, the game against Preston may feel like a play-off clash in its own right given what’s at stake.