West Brom v Stoke: Albion will not mind break even after three victories

Three wins on the spin would mark a significant change in momentum since Carlos Corberan walked through the door almost three weeks ago. The Baggies had managed just two in their previous 17 Championship attempts.

The World Cup break arrives at an interesting – and surely useful – time for Albion and their new Spanish head coach, who is preparing his team to tackle Stoke at home tomorrow.

No side usually wants positive momentum to be halted, but Corberan and his squad won’t mind here. With the World Cup around the corner and an unusual ‘mini- pre-season’ period about to begin, the weeks ahead will be an important opportunity for all managers and head coaches, especially those that thrive on the training ground and need to implement new ideas.

First there is the matter of the Potters, who beat Luton in midweek, and are 15th in the Championship. A defeat, as has been pretty familiar against Stoke of late, will leave supporters with a slight hangover as the international festivities kick in.

“The situation now demands our best, we are very, very, very self-demanding to achieve the wins we need to achieve to move from this situation,” Coberan said yesterday, when asked about building on wins against Blackpool and QPR. “Maybe before we arrived here the momentum was not the best one.

“Of course, now with two wins you can change the momentum but they are part of the past, it is very important to be concentrating knowing we have a lot of work in front of us.

“The winning helps everyone to believe more in the things we need to do.

“This is what (go into the break on a high) all the teams in the Championship want and only some of them will achieve.

“For me the ones that have more chance to achieve this are the ones that compete with more level of desire, more levels of commitment, more levels of concentration, with the things we can control to achieve the result.”

Corberan has a decision to make on whether Daryl Dike is involved after featuring for the under-21s on his way back from a thigh injury. Karlan Grant has made good progress but for Semi Ajayi the fixture comes too soon.

Albion fan protest group Action For Albion, meanwhile, are set to build on their shine a light protest in the recent Blackpool fixture at The Hawthorns by ‘blowing a whistle’ using a mobile phone app against the Baggies board in the 12th minute of tomorrow’s game.

The group has built a following online as it looks to highlight what it describes as ‘gross mismanagement’ of the club by the board and owner Guochuan Lai.

“I always respect any type of behaviour of our fans because, for me, they have this possibility to do it. I am focused on what I can control and what is depending on me,” Corberan said of the planned protests.

“What I want is for them to feel proud of the team, I want them to have a team which is competing and is going for the result, so that they can go home, especially before this international break, with the best feeling that we can give to them. This is my clear and honest target.”