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West Bromwich Albion’s play-off hopes took another huge hit after a 1-0 defeat to fellow high-flyers Sunderland at The Hawthorns over the weekend.
They dropped out of the top six after Middlesbrough and Bristol City both secured vital wins of their own, making Tuesday’s clash against the Robins potentially pivotal in the play-off race between two of the primary contenders for a top six berth.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 5 |  MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough | 40 | 17 | 9 | 14 | 61 | 49 | 12 | 60 |
| 6 |  Bristol CityBristol City | 40 | 15 | 15 | 10 | 51 | 43 | 8 | 60 |
| 7 |  CoventryCoventry | 40 | 17 | 8 | 15 | 57 | 53 | 4 | 59 |
| 8 |  West BromWest Brom | 40 | 13 | 18 | 9 | 48 | 36 | 12 | 57 |
| 9 |  MillwallMillwall | 40 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 39 | 41 | -2 | 54 |
| 10 |  WatfordWatford | 40 | 15 | 8 | 17 | 48 | 53 | -5 | 53 |
| 11 |  NorwichNorwich | 40 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 62 | 56 | 6 | 52 |
It was a particularly poor afternoon for Joe Wildsmith in the Albion goal, who failed to routinely keep out a well-struck Trai Hume free-kick in the 35th minute, with the Northern Ireland international’s curling effort going through Wildsmith’s palms.
Since replacing the outgoing Ipswich Town bound Alex Palmer, Wildsmith has been far from a safe pair of hands. That includes when he made notable errors against Blackburn Rovers, Leeds United, Burnley, but now Sunderland to cost the Baggies points in their pursuit of the top six in the Championship.
West Brom fans react to Joe Wildsmith howler against Sunderland
It’s fair to say West Brom fans aren’t happy at all with the situation. One said: “Joe Wildsmith is the Grant Hanley of goalkeepers.”
Another joked: “Kipre was a better keeper than Wildsmith.”
Another said: “HAS to be Griffiths next game, I’m sure Wildsmith is a good lad but he has cost us too many points recently and is proven unreliable.”
Jed Wallace makes Illan Meslier and Alex Palmer comparison amid Joe Wildsmith woes
Leeds have also seen their goalkeeper lose them points in recent weeks, with Illan Meslier dropped for Karl Darlow and West Brom captain Jed Wallace spoke about that via BBC Sport’s Football Daily 72+: The EFL Podcast. There he was asked on how you deal with mistrust in a colleague.
“I think that’s what being a good teammate is, it’s very easy to be a good teammate when it’s all going well.
“There will be plenty of occasions this season where every single player makes mistake the unfortunate thing for Meslier is when you’re a goalkeeper it feels you get punished.
“I think Meslier is a maverick goalkeeper in a way in that he’ll make saves he has no right to make but then it seems that the routine ones he struggles with maybe a little bit more when you look at [James] Trafford at Burnley.
“Palmer was similar for us where he just did the basics really really well with very little mistakes.”
Josh Griffiths had a superb first half of the season at Bristol Rovers and is undoubtedly the future of West Brom in terms of their goalkeeping department, with the 23-year-old now deserving of an opportunity after Wildsmith’s continuous errors.
Leeds made a brave decision with Meslier and Darlow this weekend, which is the point West Brom and Tony Mowbray are surely getting to with Wildsmith and Griffiths.
Tony Mowbray’s reaction to latest Wildsmith, West Brom error
The lack of change cost Leeds points after Meslier’s bad mistakes to Sunderland and Hull City, with either juncture when a call could have been made. Now, with the Baggies travelling to Ashton Gate on Tuesday, followed by the visit of Watford and then a trip to the CBS Arena to play Coventry on Good Friday, Mowbray’s men must turn things around.
The first way to do that and to string a run of positive results together to reclaim a top six place is to drop Wildsmith, with games running out to have a shot at Premier League football next season. Per the BBC, Mowbray publicly backed Wildsmith last month following an error by the keeper in a 1-1 draw against Burnley, though. It’s unclear if his mind has since been changed.
As reported by The Express & Star, Mowbray revealed Wildsmith immediately apologised for his mistake in the game, but admitted West Brom’s inability to put the ball in the back of the opposition net was equally as costly.
Mowbray said: “He (Wildsmith) should have saved it. He apologised to me after the game — he came to find me in my office and said it’s on him. But that’s the job as a goalkeeper. It’s frustrating because that becomes the narrative.
“Yet we had to score, with the chances we had and the situations we got into, you have to put the ball in the net. But we didn’t, like last week, so it becomes about the goal we lost rather than the three we should have scored.”
There have been calls from supporters for Griffiths to be handed an opportunity given errors from the 29-year-old in between the sticks. Mowbray added: “We’ve been here before, but I’ll see what he’s like in training and see how he reacts.
“It’s very naive to think ‘the goalie makes a mistake, so change the goalie’. Because if the goalie you put in makes a mistake in the next game, where do you go then? Change him again? I don’t think so, so I will rely on my experience to make the right decisions.
“The goalkeeper acknowledged he made a pretty bad mistake which cost us a goal which ultimately cost us the game. But the responsibility of the team is to score some goals in a game we were on top of for most of it.”