West Brom take on a managerless Sunderland side in the Championship this weekend.
West Brom journey up to Wearside to take on Sunderland in the Championship on Saturday, in what is the Black Cats’ first game since sacking Tony Mowbray.
Sunderland sit in 9th place of the table compared to the Baggies in 5th.
Carlos Corberan‘s side go into this game on the back of a 2-1 defeat vs Leicester City last time out, and they go into tomorrow without wide-men Jed Wallace and Matt Phillips.
And that could open the door for youngster Tom Fellows to make an impression.
Here are three reasons why the 20-year-old should make his first league start for West Brom vs Sunderland tomorrow…
Sunderland won’t know what to expect
Despite the change in manager, Sunderland will have done their due diligence on West Brom and their game plan likely won’t change too much.
But with Fellows having only played as a substitute this season, deploying him from the start could give Sunderland a bit of a headache.
Their caretaker boss Mike Dodds won’t know what to expect from the youngster and neither will the players, potentially giving the Baggies an advantage in tomorrow’s game.
Black Cats out of form
Sunderland remain just three points outside the top six, but their recent performances have been poor.
With no new manager in place, a new manager bounce can’t really be expected, and so it could be a game where West Brom prevail.
Sunderland have been relatively poor across the pitch with plenty of weaknesses emerging, one being in the full-back areas.
The likes of Jenson Seelt in particular have failed to impress but keep starting, so for winger Fellows, Sunderland could be a good team to make his first start against.
Food for thought for the West Brom boss
The likes of Phillips and Wallace aren’t getting any younger, and whilst both have a fair few years left still, expect Corberan to have one eye on the future.
And given the rather perilous financial situation at The Hawthorns, Corberan could look more towards the youth academy and players like Fellows.
And starting Fellows tomorrow will give Corberan a better idea of where he’s at right now.
The absence of players like Wallace and Phillips, with the latter out for a while, certainly opens the door for Fellows and Jeremy Sarmiento too, but with Sarmiento on loan, Corberan may be more inclined to give Fellows some exposure.