The top two are threatening to run away with automatic promotion but the race for the play-offs remains competitiveThreatening to runaway with things are West Brom and Leeds. This time last season nine points separated the top six but Slaven Bilic’s free-scoring Albion – only Manchester City have more league goals across England’s top five tiers – have established considerably more breathing space at the summit. Bilic has made his first taste of managing in the so-called madhouse look easy, so much so that his side have soared to the 50-point mark without appearing to work up too much of a sweat, and the sense is there is plenty of oomph to come. Related: Sheffield Wednesday’s late penalty has Bristol...
The Croatian midfielder, on loan from Benfica, on his family’s road trip with West Brom fans and his love of Harry PotterNot for the first time Filip Krovinovic is smiling. It is bucketing down at West Bromwich Albion’s training base but after making light of the British climate and highlighting Luka Modric as his idol, the Croatian playmaker, whom Slaven Bilic made his first signing this summer, is describing how his older brother, Tomislav, and his family also became an instant hit with fans after joining them on a supporters’ coach for the opening-day win at Nottingham Forest.“They loved it,” Krovinovic says. “They liked the atmosphere on the bus. They took some beers and some fans took a picture with...
Leicester can test City but Liverpool face a challenge of their own, it’s all or nothing for Cardiff and Watford need to regroupFollowing the disappointment of their reasonably heroic Champions League defeat at Barcelona, Liverpool must rouse themselves for what could be an extremely tricky Saturday evening appointment at Newcastle in which they simply cannot afford to slip up. With only two matches of the Premier League campaign remaining, anything less than a win for Liverpool would leave the door open for Manchester City to all but wrap up the title on Monday. One suspects this is a far tougher assignment than Jürgen Klopp would like so soon after a gruelling and dispiriting game at the Camp Nou and the...
From Leeds United’s Jack Clarke to Middlesbrough’s Marcus Tavernier, these 10 talented teenagers are quickly becoming fixtures in the future of footballAfter several game-changing cameos off the bench, the York-born forward was finally handed his full debut by Marcelo Bielsa last Sunday. Raw and direct, Clarke has the ability to grab games by the scruff of the neck; he kickstarted an extraordinary comeback victory at Villa Park last month and made a similar dent against Nottingham Forest and, before that, Sheffield United. Clarke has pleasantly surprised Bielsa, becoming the Argentinian’s go-to man, asked to spark Leeds into life at half-time on no fewer than six occasions since November. “When I started to look at his skills I didn’t imagine that...
Darren Moore impressed as interim manager in the club’s unsuccessful fight for Premier League survival, and now results have brought the feelgood factor back to the HawthornsDarren Moore is never going to blow his own trumpet but, after the alienation, strain and pain of relegation last season, the Hawthorns seems a happier haunt these days. “I hope so,” Moore, the affable West Bromwich Albion head coach, says, sitting in a pocket of the stadium overlooking the pristine pitch. “It certainly feels a different place.”Results help. After almost hatching the greatest of great escapes, the Baggies are back in the Championship, for the first time since 2010. After impressing in caretaker charge – Moore memorably won the manager of the month...