We look at a variation of potential line-ups for West Bromwich ahead of their game against Leicester City on Sunday.
Keep it simple
The simplest line-up is often the most probable. It would see Claudio Yacob come in for the suspended James McClean and Jonas Olsson drop to the bench in favour of Matt Phillips.
Evans would move back into centre-back, with Chadli reverting to the more central role he has played in recent West Bromwich Albion games.
Midfield composure
Albion looked more comfortable in the second half against Manchester City with James Morrison and Chris Brunt adding much needed composure and forward momentum to the midfield.
Pulis could add Claudio Yacob or Darren Fletcher to that combination to ensure his back four still have a designated defensive midfield shield.
The passing capabilities of Morrison and Brunt give more supply to Nacer Chadli, Salomon Rondon and whoever else plays out wide.
New partnership
Last season, Pulis started Rondon and Saido Berahino upfront against the flying Foxes and his bold approach troubled the Leicester defence. Albion’s boss might decide to hand Hal Robson-Kanu his first start in an Albion shirt to play a similar role.
Robson-Kanu would ease the workload on the often isolated figure of Salomon Rondon and help ask questions of Leicester’s centre-back pairing of Robert Huth and Wes Morgan.
If Robson-Kanu does start, it would push Chadli out wide and most likely see Fletcher and Yacob play in the middle.
Cautionary approach
After the 4-0 defeat against Manchester City, Pulis may be tempted to shake up his defensive approach for the trip to the King Power.
Craig Gardner started and scored as West Bromwich Albion took a point off Leicester City last season. With McClean out, Gardner could be in line for a recall to provide defensive cover from Albion’s fullbacks, who face a tough test against Leicester’s pacey wingers.
Pulis could move Evans out to left-back and keep Olsson in the starting eleven, as the Swedish defender is better suited to away games.
Injection of pace
As alluded to earlier, Leicester are a side that possess a lot of pace, especially in wide areas. There is a very slim chance that Pulis might recall Brendan Galloway to the starting eleven to combat that issue.
The left-back hasn’t featured since the West Ham defeat after being replaced by Allan Nyom, who isn’t having the best of times playing out of position. Galloway would inject pace into Albion’s slow back four.
Albion’s other pacey option is Jonathan Leko. The youngster did more than enough in his substitute appearance against Manchester City to warrant a place in the Baggies’ starting eleven.
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