Yesterday, 21:45
Three weeks after the redemptive win over Oxford, courtesy of two performances in which our brief flashes of flair made the inevitable outcomes all the harder to take, the Damoclean sword hangs again over Ryan Mason, as it was always liable to. The Baggies boss isn't yet in the kind of territory that made Steve Bruce's position untenable three years ago, and a seven-point cushion from the relegation zone more or less spares him getting there this side of Christmas, but as against Oxford, Mason tomorrow finds a hefty weight of expectation falling on one game in which anything short of a win would feel like a significant nail in the coffin of his tenure.
Swansea are the visitors, currently six games winless in all competitions and on a four-match losing streak. New head coach Vitor Matos failed to re-Vitor-lise their fortunes in his first match against Derby, but is now urging the Swans to treat Saturday's game as a cup final, and it's just Albion's luck that new manager bounce might kick in ninety minutes late. I can't see it being anything except a close match and result one way or another, so it's down to Mason to prove - not for the first time, and probably not the last - that he's got the answers.
Swansea are the visitors, currently six games winless in all competitions and on a four-match losing streak. New head coach Vitor Matos failed to re-Vitor-lise their fortunes in his first match against Derby, but is now urging the Swans to treat Saturday's game as a cup final, and it's just Albion's luck that new manager bounce might kick in ninety minutes late. I can't see it being anything except a close match and result one way or another, so it's down to Mason to prove - not for the first time, and probably not the last - that he's got the answers.
"I would rather spend a holiday in Tuscany than in the Black Country, but if I were compelled to choose between living in West Bromwich or Florence, I should make straight for West Bromwich." - J.B. Priestley