[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

An improved performance at Bramall Lane (somewhat undermined by Jake Livermore being Jake Livermore) wasn't enough to give Brucie a dream start, so now attention must turn to his first home match: a real Monday night crunch match against visitors Blackburn, who've more or less swapped places in the table with Albion since our last encounter. The good news is that they're on a bit of an iffy run, with back to back defeats to Nottingham Forest and Swansea alongside a goalless draw against Luton. The bad news is that we won our last game at the Hawthorns against Rovers two years ago, and we haven't recorded consecutive home wins against them since a run of three between 1936 and 1949. Frankly, if the key ingredient to us finding consistency against Blackburn is a world war, then Brucie might have to get on the phone to the Kremlin in the morning and tell Vladimir to get a shift on.

Mowbray's men have failed to score in their last three on the road, which is their worst drought for eight years; conversely, Steve Bruce has notched up wins in nine of his last ten home games against Blackburn, including two apiece with Birmingham, Wigan and Sunderland besides those with Hull, Villa and Sheffield Wednesday. It'll be a tough match without a doubt, and in the circumstances, another good performance along with a point on the board would be an acceptable outcome and a platform to build on in the weeks ahead.