[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Laurie Cunningham opens the scoring against Liverpool with Emlyn Hughes and Ray Clemence powerless to stop him, 23rd September 1978

It's all gone a bit Shane Long recently, hasn't it? That 3-1 win against Arsenal that gave us hope for the remainder of the season now seems a distant memory, and we haven't scored a single goal for three full matches. Frustrations abound with the poor form of Rondon, the inconsistency/anonymity of Chadli and our lack of ideas in breaking teams down outside of set-pieces. In many ways it's probably for the best that we have an enforced fortnight's break following this Sunday's match against Liverpool.

Can we hope for anything from the Reds, given our form in April? Well, if there's a crumb of comfort it's that we're usually better against them at the Hawthorns than at Anfield, and we may also up our game for the "big" team, as we so often do. But they will be the favourites, and we will more than likely have to put up our usual defensive masterclass and nick what we can on the counter.

The record fifty-point haul remains do-able, but expectations are fading; even a point here (particularly a score-draw) would help to keep hopes alive a little while longer.