The Baggies of James Shan travel to Villa Park for the first leg of their Championship playoff against Dean Smith’s charges.
West Bromwich Albion midfielder Chris Brunt has given his thoughts on how he expects Aston Villa to play against them when the two West Midlands rivals contest the first leg of their Championship playoff on Saturday.
The Baggies captain also expects the “40,000 screaming” Villa Park home fans to be “expecting” and urging their team to take the game to the visitors, to which they will need to prepare accordingly in a bid to get a result on away turf.
James Shan’s charges finished fourth in the table to give them home advantage in the second leg against the fifth-placed Villans, with the first game at Villa Park with a 12:30pm kickoff this Saturday and the return leg at the Hawthorns on Tuesday 14 May, 8pm kickoff.
West Brom are unbeaten in their last four games against Villa, the last fixture yielding a 2-0 win at Villa Park in the Championship, while the reverse fixture this season was a 2-2 draw at The Hawthorns.
However, the Albion win over Dean Smith’s side in February spurred the B6 side to go on a 12-match unbeaten run, which only came to an end when they lost to champions Norwich City on Sunday.
“Being away from home, obviously you have to be a little bit more cautious. I think football generally dictates that,” Brunt told Sky Sports News. “The onus will be on them to take the game to us because they’ll have 40,000 screaming fans behind them expecting them to do that. So it’s how we deal with that.
“I know it’s an old cliche – you play the game not the occasion – but it will be very much that scenario for us on Saturday. It’s one we’re all looking forward to. I think this week you can feel the excitement building up around the place.”
The winner of the semi-final between the two West Midlands side will face either Derby County or Leeds United at Wembley Stadium on Monday 27 May.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
