West Brom

West Brom will be hoping they can finish the season strongly with a win over rivals Birmingham City on Sunday.

Steve Bruce only has one new injury update with Daryl Dike suffering a setback in his return from a hamstring injury. The only potential surprise would be for Dara O’Shea to come in for either Furlong or Semi Ajayi, who was away on international duty with Nigeria, but Bruce will prefer to maintain a consistent XI and keep the back three the same at the very least. Both sides will be hoping they can gather momentum heading into next season with neither side being able to push for the playoffs or in danger of going down.

TIM NASH AT ST ANDREW'S: West Brom had most of the play late on after bringing substitute Andy Carroll but Birmingham's defence remained resolute.

The referee pointed to the spot and Taylor stepped up, nervelessly sending Johstone the wrong way and ending Blues' goal drought. The game broke up and Albion ...

Probably Blues' best player in the first period when he ran hard, covered plenty of ground and hit the pass of the half when he picked out Hernandez with a 40-yard diagonal. Spent more of the first game pressing and chasing down the ball than trying to get on the end of anything resembling an attack. Managed to produce one moment of magic in the second period when he picked out Hogan with cross-field pass - and did his hamstring. Nothing to do in the first half other than deal with a couple of corners and clear his lines. Deployed on the right of midfield and didn't really get into the match in the opening 45. The game broke up and Albion started to ask more and more questions.

Darnell Furlong and Conor Towsend are the wing-backs, with a central three of Jake Livermore, Taylor Gardner-Hickman and Alex Mowatt. Karlan Grant and Callum ...

That certainly suggests there is something about this team at the moment, so the potential is there to remain in the conversation for the rest of the season. The news this week that January signing Daryl Dike is likely out for the rest of the season was a major blow. Steve Bruce’s West Brom starting XI has been confirmed for the major derby clash with Birmingham City in the Championship.

Birmingham City's Juninho Bacuna and West Bromwich Albion's Andy Carroll battle for the ball in the air during the Sky Bet Championship match at St Andrew's, ...

It was a clear spot-kick. Albion headed to St Andrew's unbeaten in their last four - with Bruce having stuck with the same starting XI for all of those games. But it's the manner of the defeat that will really rankle with Steve Bruce and the Albion fans who made the short trip to the Second City.

Albion pressed towards the end, and Carroll might've equalised when he nodded just wide of Neil Etheridge's left hand post, but in truth they never came ...

Might’ve done better when he won a header in the box at the start of the second half, but he was never able to really settle with the presence of Taylor and the pace of Hogan. Gardner and Bacuna had the better of the battle. Fresh from his international exploits, TGH was a little disappointing here and didn’t show enough through the lines when in possession. Bruce sent for Grady Diangana and Andy Carroll, and the afternoon threatened to get a little heated when Callum Robinson and Taylor had a set to in the corner in front of the Kop. A bit of spice to the afternoon’s proceedings - that was long overdue. His newfound license to get forward and to fully utilise his agility and lesser known crossing ability was one of the very few bright points in a dull first half. Began the game at a decent tempo from his newfound deep lying role. Heckled by fans in the Gil Merrick and the Tilton, largely to do with his Villa history, Johnstone had a quiet first half. That said, Blues came out in the second half and were the brighter of the two teams without question. Albion pressed towards the end, and Carroll might’ve equalised when he nodded just wide of Neil Etheridge’s left hand post, but in truth they never came much closer to levelling matters. In truth, that was the most contentious moment of a grim first half viewing, which sucked any prospective atmosphere out of St Andrew’s. Tahith Chong had one sight of goal after a lovely cross-field ball by Lyle Taylor, but Semi Ajayi recovered and executed a necessary challenge. Darnell Furlong produced a customary long throw from the right hand side and, in the penalty box kerfuffle, the ball struck the arm of Marc Roberts. Jake Livermore and co were adamant that they ought to have had a spot kick, but the ref wasn’t having it. Albion had what appeared to be a strong case for a penalty waved away by referee Dean Whitestone in the first couple of minutes.

Lyle Taylor's fourth goal since arriving at the club was the difference in the 67th minute after Conor Townsend was penalised for handball. Albion failed to ...

“I’m pleased and proud of the players. “I like to look at the positives. “They edged it in the first half without creating anything.

An angry Steve Bruce labelled Albion's performance at Birmingham unacceptable – with the boss warning his players they will be out the door if they continue ...

"It's a stonewall penalty and I think the referee has blown his whistle and thought s*** what have I done," Bruce said. "But it's got to one of the worst games of football I’ve seen in a long time. "We are a team that goes up and down and that's the reason why we’re in the middle of the pack," Bruce said.