West Bromwich Albion

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West Bromwich Albion forward Daryl Dike wants to keep his scoring momentum "rolling" after ending his season-long goal drought on Saturday.

The American scored the decisive second goal in the Baggies' 2-0 win at Preston, just seven minutes after coming off the bench.

It was his first goal since netting on the final day of last season in a 5-3 win over Luton on 3 May.

"I'm just so happy," Dike told BBC Radio WM. "I've worked really hard for this and to contribute to the team, and being on the scoresheet is a great thing.

"Naturally as a striker you always want to score and to contribute, so working hard and seeing the products of your work on the pitch is a good feeling."

Dike admitted to "many lows" this season before scoring in his 22nd appearance of the campaign and thanked supporters who "have always believed in me".

"As a striker every single game I sit there and think, 'OK, today's going to be the day I'm going to score,'" he added.

"It's all you can think about, really, every single day, so finally it's like a little breath of fresh air.

"But now I'll be frustrated on Tuesday if I don't score again, so I'm just going to try and keep it rolling."

Rejuvenated under interim boss James Morrison, Albion are unbeaten in eight matches since a 2-1 defeat to relegation rivals on 28 February, picking up 14 points.

The run has left them five points above the drop zone with three games to play, starting with a home match against mid-table Watford on Tuesday (19:45 BST).

"Now we step into every single game thinking we can get a result, winning away to a tough Preston, and now we are at home; we have the support, the motivation, the camaraderie," said Dike.

"So going into Tuesday, why can't we win? We go into every single game now thinking that we can."

Sam Fletcher
Final Score Reporter

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With eight games unbeaten, three successive clean sheets and a 2-0 win at Preston which puts everything in their favour, should West Brom back James Morrison as permanent manager?

Now five points above the drop zone, the risk of a possible points deduction because of a potential financial breach did not stop the Baggies at Deepdale.

Morrison said he had banned talk of the potential deduction and insisted they keep focus on the pitch.

They exploded out of the gate and found success with short, sharp passes and a battle-to-the-end mindset proven with the first goal grabbed from a battle in midfield.

There has been a significant upturn in form since he took charge as interim manager for the second time this season, only losing the first game of his stint - winning three and drawing five since then.

Before he took over West Brom had won only two in 16 league games.

If this form continues, even amidst the points deduction uncertainty, Morrison seems an obvious choice to take on the job permanently.

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West Brom manager James Morrison is refusing to get carried away after lifting the Baggies five points clear of the Championship relegation zone.

Josh Maja and Daryl Dike scored in their comfortable 2-0 win at Preston to extend their unbeaten run to eight games, but Morrison insists they are not safe yet.

He told BBC Radio WM: "You never know with this league, what it can come up with, what it can give you because it's full of surprises.

"We'll enjoy the moment and then we're back in tomorrow. The players have got to work, we can't get away from the end goal."

Morrison was delighted with West Brom's display at Deepdale and said: "It was magical really. The performance that we gave was a typical away performance, a clean sheet and two goals from our strikers tops it off really.

"It was a performance where we were under pressure, but I didn't feel played with that pressure. I'm really pleased for them, all the hard work they have given us. Then the scenes at the end with the fans, it was a good afternoon's work.

"Everyone was working for each other. You could see when they had the ball, we had twos and threes around them. We were winning tackles and duels, so I'm very pleased with everyone because it was a good performance."

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West Bromwich Albion will hope to boost their Championship survival hopes when they visit Preston North End on Saturday (kick-off 15:00 BST).

The Baggies are two points above the relegation zone and unbeaten in their past seven league games (W2 D5), though they have won just two of their previous 18 (D9 L7).

The Lilywhites are 13th on 57 points and cannot go down, while a play-off spot is almost impossible as they trail sixth-placed Hull by 11 points with four games to play.

• Preston have won just two of their previous 15 league games against West Brom (D3 L10), with these victories coming consecutively in January and October 2022.

• West Brom have won five of their past six league games against Preston (D1), conceding just three goals in that run.

• Preston are unbeaten in their past four Championship games (W2 D2); this despite being on a run of 11 games without a clean sheet, the longest current run in the division.

• Nine of West Brom's past 14 Championship games have ended level (W2 L3). Indeed, the Baggies have had more draws (9) than any other team in the division since the start of 2026.

• Milutin Osmajic, Lewis Dobbin and Alfie Devine are all Preston's joint-top scorers in the Championship this season (8). This is the first campaign since 2017-18 in which Preston have had as many as three players with 8+ goals in the Championship (Tom Barkhuizen, Sean Maguire and Jordan Hugill).

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On Tuesday, we asked for your thoughts on West Bromwich Albion's chances of Championship survival.

The Baggies are two points clear of the drop zone with four games to play, including a home game against promotion-chasing Ipswich and a trip to already relegated Sheffield Wednesday on the final day.

However, there are fears of a points deduction after the club were charged with breaching the EFL's profit and sustainability rules (PSR) - a sanction which would be imposed this season should Albion be found guilty.

Chris: I still have complete faith that, under Morrison, Albion will finish above the relegation zone. Though, whether a subsequent points deduction changes that, remains to be seen.

Kevin: Our issue is a lack of goals. I'm hopeful that we can get a win at home against Watford but away at Preston and Sheffield Wednesday are more likely to be draws. Ipswich at home is harder to predict and it depends on whether they still need points. I think 5 points is realistic. If we finish on 51 that could be enough but if we then have points deducted we will be in trouble.

George: Seven games unbeaten and yet only 2 points above the drop. I felt worried before the announcements about PSR but seeing the fact we will likely get a 2 or 3 points deduction, I now feel our fate is inevitable because of other teams' around us form. I'll always have hope, just not much of it.

Southern Baggie: Mozza has to be brave and translate this stability into forward momentum. A bit of a gamble on a young winger or a tweak to a formation to give Imray more attacking support. We don't just need a win (or now two), we need to remember how to win. If we don't beat Preston or Watford now, I don't think we can think that we would beat Wednesday.

Nathan: As bad as the season has been Morrison has worked wonders with a team lacking any confidence. 4-4-2 is the formation we should have been playing all season. We've missed chances in the last few games to take all 3 points and I fear that will unfortunately cost us dearly come the end of the season.

Bev: The players must forget the PSR issue and continue to pick up valuable points. Obviously, within the next four games they need to win at least one match.

Steve: It's going to be tight. Possible points deduction aside, if they win at Preston on Saturday I think they will finish outside the bottom 3. Blackburn and Charlton not out of it yet.

Rich: I think it will go to the last game having to beat Sheffield Wednesday to stay up.

Martyn: I think 50 or at most 52 points is usually regarded as enough to survive but seeing how things are going, I think it may be 53 or 54 this season. That would require at least two wins.

Nathan C: Everything that can go wrong this season has gone wrong multiple times. First we've had two completely disastrous manager appointments, then we've had numerous players out from injury and now a potential points deduction to top it all off. Everything is so up in the air at the moment, I honestly don't know where we will be next season. Serious questions need to be asked in the summer.

How are you feeling, Albion fans?

This is not about the swirling rumours of financial breaches or pending points deductions - not enough is currently known about all that to ask you.

We want to know about on-field matters.

Friday night's point against Millwall looked a good one on paper and extended the Baggies' unbeaten streak to seven matches, but James Morrison and his men have had to sit back over the past few days and watch Oxford United pick up a win over Watford, and Portsmouth, incredibly, record back-to-back wins at Middlesbrough on Saturday and then at home to Ipswich on Tuesday night.

It's all left things looking precarious for Albion once again.

With four games remaining they lie 21st, two points ahead of third-bottom Oxford, who have a slightly better goal difference.

Trips to Preston on Saturday (15:00 BST) and a final-day trip to Sheffield Wednesday await the Baggies, with Watford and promotion-chasing Ipswich heading to the Hawthorns in between.

How many points do you think will be enough to survive? Is it a straight shootout with Oxford, or can Leicester mount a comeback from a further three points back, and can Blackburn and Portsmouth be dragged back into it?

Click here to have your say.

Chris Hall
Fan writer

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Arrigo Sacchi once described football as "the most important of all the least important things in life".

However much we try to tell ourselves that it's just a game, the events that surround our football club have a profound impact on our emotional state.

For weeks now, Albion fans have been given reasons to smile as James Morrison's Baggies embarked on a seven-game unbeaten run.

But, just as things were starting to look rosy in the Throstles' garden again, breaking news on Monday morning struck a dagger through the heart of those who bleed blue and white.

John Percy of the Daily Telegraph reported, external that Albion had been charged by the EFL with an alleged breach of profit and sustainability rules. A charge which could carry a points penalty if proven.

Albion say they have done nothing wrong, and the EFL are saying nothing, which is not very helpful.

However, the fact the club said in a statement on their website, "The club will continue to co-operate with the EFL's Club Financial Reporting Unit and looks forward to resolving this matter", suggests there is a case to be answered.

Quite what that case is remains unclear.

There are suggestions that it relates to the interest on the MSD loan, which Albion took out under previous owner Guochuan Lai to help with the day-to-day running of the club.

Bilkul, Albion's current owners, has assumed responsibility for the repayment of the interest on that loan and therefore the £5.2m it amounts to was recharged to Bilkul in the latest accounts.

This is something that some are suggesting the EFL may have objected to.

If so, then it begs questions around the point of the EFL's profit and sustainability rules.

Albion took out that loan, not to compete at the top end of the Championship, but instead to keep the lights on.

The reason for this was, in no small part, due to the previous owner, Lai, who had paid a series of 0% interest loans to his own company, and subsequently missed multiple deadlines to repay them.

In short, Albion were forced into taking out a high-interest loan because their owner was using their cash as an interest-free loan to fund his other interests.

Of course, rules are rules, and if Albion are found guilty, they will no doubt pay the penalty.

But the motivation behind a rule matters, and the EFL seems to have lost sight of that.

If it is punishing clubs for merely trying to stay afloat and pay staff due to their owner wishing to use club finances elsewhere, then surely that goes against their reason for existing (which is to support its clubs).

The further irony is that had Albion failed to pay staff on time, they would have probably been hit with a points deduction there too, so you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Image source, Opta

To be clear, I'm all for punishing clubs for overspending in pursuit of a sporting advantage - but that's not really what we are talking about here. While Albion have committed themselves to some inadvisable player contracts in recent years, that doesn't seem to be what caused their breach.

Context matters, and so does timing, and the EFL's timing is appalling.

The EFL's own rules, which it changed last year, state that any punishment must be handed down this campaign.

For most clubs in the Championship (including Albion) there are just four games remaining.

In Albion's case, four decisive games as they hover just two points above the relegation zone.

So, how do Albion approach those games? As a team two points clear or, if they were to receive the mooted three-point deduction, as a team in the relegation zone?

As Steve Hermon of BBC Radio WM pointed out, the rules state that if Albion don't agree with the EFL charge (which it seems they don't) then a hearing must be held within 28 days.

However, the Championship season ends just 19 days from the date this story broke.

Here's a not-improbable scenario.

Albion go into the final day needing a point to stay up. They are drawing late on in that game and therefore hang on to what they have, only to discover some nine days later that it wasn't enough because they are deducted points.

However, it's not just Albion who are impacted.

Another likely scenario.

One of Albion's relegation rivals is drawing late in their game, but they need a win to go above Albion. They throw players forward in pursuit of a winner but concede on the break and lose. A few days later, Albion are deducted points, and they discover that if they'd held on to the draw they had, then they would have stayed up.

The EFL states on its website that one of its values and priority areas is sporting integrity, but this process destroys the sporting integrity of the Championship run-in as teams don't know how to approach games due to the uncertainty it has created.

However, if the EFL does not apply the rules as it has set them out, that too challenges the competition's sporting integrity.

In short, the EFL has painted itself into a corner.

It appears to be woeful mismanagement from a governing body that is not unaccustomed to a crisis.

The teams in the Championship relegation battle and the fans who support them deserve much, much better than this!

Listen to more from Chris Hall at the Albion Analysis, external

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Are the English Football League's charges against West Bromwich Albion for financial breaches unfair?

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has been digging deeper into the Baggies' finances to see just how deep the problems run.

And while he agrees the club appeared to have broken the rules, the timing of the charges contributes to a bigger issue.

"I did my calculations, and I don't have intricate data, and I got the impression Albion were perhaps no more than £1m over the limit," Maguire told BBC Radio WM.

"Albion have been working hand-in-hand with the EFL, they've had to comply with a business plan so that might be seen as co-operating, but strictly if you are over the limit, then there has to be [referral to a] commission.

"But there's a separate issue in that we are almost at the end of the season and it's not fair on Albion, and it's not fair on the other clubs that are in the relegation dogfight as well.

"A: whether there is going to be a charge. B: whether they are innocent or guilty. C: whether the tariffs are going to be applied before the end of the season.

"I think a lot of these unknowns are creating a lot of stress and distress for clubs and fans and owners and everyone connected."

Many fans have been surprised by the charges, because of the club's repeated messaging about the requirement to adhere to profit and sustainability rules after Bilkul Football Group took ownership in February 2024, inheriting the club's previous debts.

But there have been some suggestions that their new situation is all one big mistake.

"I've heard on the grapevine - and this was nothing to do with the club - they think that somebody, somewhere may have made an error in adding up or subtracting some numbers," Maguire added.

"I think it's more of a mess-up than a conspiracy. I don't think there's been some kind of grand plan by West Bromwich Albion to overspend."

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds

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West Bromwich Albion interim boss James Morrison spoke to BBC Radio WM following their 0-0 draw with Millwall.

"They had the better of the first 30 minutes," he said.

"We needed to sort a couple of bits out at half-time and then I thought [in the] second half we were the stronger team, had the bigger chances and kept them away from our goal.

"I felt we were just a final pass away tonight - the right shot, choosing the right pass.

"The big moment, the goalkeeper's [Anthony Patterson] made a great save so I think overall it's probably a fair result."

West Bromwich Albion head coach James Morrison said his side's timely run of good form has been down to them learning from past failures.

The Baggies are unbeaten in six games and have their Championship destiny in their own hands going into the final five matches of the season, with a four-point gap to the relegation zone.

That run - two wins and four draws - since a 2-1 defeat by Oxford United on 28 February earned Morrison a nomination for manager of the month for March, and he has taken Albion from the bottom three to relative comfort in 20th place.

"The reaction from Oxford, the belief and the determination of trying to, one, improve the performances and, two, get the club out of this position - sometimes you learn the most off your failures," he told BBC Radio WM.

"I think that's a sign of a good team when you have that disappointment and then you come back from it.

"We can control some sort of disappointment, but it's how you control the big disappointments and how you react through that. And I've talked about that with the group - coming through some difficult moments and going again."

A win over top-two chasing Millwall on Friday [20:00 BST] would put the Baggies in touching distance of 50 points - widely accepted as the tally usually needed to stay up.

And Morrison said he has been reminding his players of how close they are to doing that.

"Ever since I've come in, we've had targets," he said. "So we keep reminding ourselves of theneed to be day-to-day, game-to-game, and then we keep working for them.

"I think everyone knows in this division, statistically, what it is, so we keep fighting for that and we'll breathe when we can breathe."

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The EFL has announced the fixtures for the 2026-27 season will be published at midday on Thursday, 25 June.

The first-round draws for the Carabao Cup and the Vertu Trophy will be made on the same day.

The new season will kick off on the weekend of August 7-9 with the first round of the Carabao Cup, and the opening fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two will follow a week later on 14-16 August.

The first round of the Vertu Trophy will be played in the week commencing 21 September.

Image source, EFL

Millwall striker Josh Coburn has been named the Championship's player of the month for March.

The 23-year-old scored three goals last month as the Lions won two, drew one and lost one of their four matches.

Coburn scored the winning goal against Derby and an important equaliser at promotion rivals Ipswich with his tally for the season currently standing at nine.

It is the second successive month a Millwall player has won the award with winger Femi Azeez taking the February prize.

West Brom defender George Campbell, Southampton goalkeeper Daniel Peretz and Derby defender Matt Clarke were also nominated.

Millwall visit West Brom on Friday night (20:00 BST).

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Southampton's Tonda Eckert has been named the Championship's manager of the month for March.

The Saints went unbeaten in the league last month, winning three and drawing one of their four games including a victory at the leaders Coventry.

The Sky Blues' Frank Lampard, Matt Bloomfield of Oxford United and West Brom interim boss James Morrison were also nominated.

Eckert also won the award in February when Southampton were again unbeaten and have continued their good form into April, moving into the play-off places as well as reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

They meet Derby at home on Saturday (15:00 BST).

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Oxford United's Matt Bloomfield, Tonda Eckert of Southampton, West Brom interim boss James Morrison and Coventry's Frank Lampard have all been nominated for the March Championship manager of the month award.

Bloomfield led Oxford to seven points from their four games last month to give them hope of avoiding relegation from the Championship, while Eckert's Southampton went unbeaten in March - and won at leaders Coventry.

Morrison was handed the task of lifting West Brom clear of the bottom three and took eight points from an unbeaten four-game run.

Coventry have continued their charge towards the Premier League, with Lampard overseeing three wins and just that one blemish in the defeat by Southampton.

Southampton goalkeeper Daniel Peretz and West Brom defender George Campbell are nominated for the player of the month award along with Millwall striker Josh Coburn and Derby defender Matt Clarke.

The winners of both awards will be announced on Friday morning.

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There's a big game to begin the Championship weekend as relegation-battling West Bromwich Albion welcome promotion-chasing Millwall to The Hawthorns on Friday night (20:00 BST).

Albion are one of the division's form teams, unbeaten in six, claiming 10 points, and with three clean sheets in their past four games.

That run has hauled Albion up to 20th, four points and two places above third-bottom Leicester with five games remaining.

The points are potentially just as precious for the Lions who lie fourth, outside the automatic promotion places on goal difference, though having played two games more than second-placed Ipswich going into this game.

Monday's home defeat to Norwich was a second straight at The Den but Alex Neil's men have only lost back-to-back league games once this season, and that came in December.

• West Brom are winless in their past nine league games against Millwall (D6 L3) since a 2-0 away win in February 2020.

• Following their 3-0 win in October, Millwall are looking to complete the league double over West Brom for the first time since 2001-02.

• Since the start of March, West Bromwich Albion are one of only three sides unbeaten in the Championship (W2 D4), along with Southampton and Ipswich. They've also faced the fewest shots on target (12) and have the lowest xG faced (5.3) in that time.

• Millwall spent three days in 2nd place in early April but are now 4th. In total – up to the night of 9 April – the Lions have ended 168 days in the play-off positions in 2025-26, 43 more than any other Championship side.

• No side have won more away points in the Championship this season than Millwall (36), winning 10 of their 20 games on the road (D6 L4). They last won more than 10 away league games in a season in 2015-16 in League One (11), and have never done so in the top-two tiers of English football.

Chris Hall
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

West Bromwich Albion currently find themselves on their longest unbeaten run for over a year, and while going six games without defeat might not seem miraculous on the face of it, the circumstances make it much more impressive.

First, there's what preceded it.

Albion had not won for three months prior to this run of form and had lost eight of their last 12 league games.

Were it not for Sheffield Wednesday, Albion would have been rock bottom of the Championship's form table.

The turnaround has been incredible; the Baggies now sit sixth in the current six-game form table, and everyone associated with the club has reason to believe this team can avoid the drop.

Of course, it could always be better.

Fans will be frustrated by points seemingly dropped in that run.

A 2-0 lead was squandered on Good Friday against Wrexham, while a last-minute equaliser at home to Southampton stopped Albion ending the Saints' own impressive unbeaten run.

However, the fact that we are left disappointed to not be beating that play-off chasing duo simply underlines how far we've come in such a short time under James Morrison. And we have done it with extremely limited options.

Throughout this six-game run, Morrison has been without Karlan Grant, Mikey Johnston, Tammer Bany and Chris Mepham, while Jed Wallace and Krystian Bielik have both suffered potentially season-ending injuries.

It has left Morrison going back to the well with the same group of players.

Seven outfield players have started every single one of those six unbeaten games, and between the Good Friday and Easter Monday games, Albion made just one outfield change.

This might go some way to explain why, across the Easter weekend, Albion were convincingly better in the first half of both games than the second, especially as Morrison lacked experienced options from the bench.

Just two of the Throstles' substitutes against Blackburn were aged over 22. The rest of the Albion bench represented a total of 12 league starts between them this season.

Not ideal for a relegation six-pointer, where Morrison admitted after that he wanted to rely on experience in such a big game.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, though, for the battle-weary Baggies who've given so much to this unbeaten run.

The interim boss confirmed that Mepham, Bany and Grant have all started training last week and their potential returns will be very welcome for a vital run-in as certain players must be feeling the effects of a long, hard season.

Aune Heggebo has now played over a year without a break (due to his previous club Brann's season running to a different schedule from the UK season) and has appeared in every league game for Albion and SK Brann in that time.

That's 64 league games in a row for the Norwegian, if you're counting.

Versatile attacker Isaac Price has appeared in every game for club and country for over a year, totalling 60 consecutive appearances.

And that's before you mention that Danny Imray, Callum Styles and George Campbell have played every minute of every game for over a month now, while Ousmane Diakite and Jayson Molumby have missed just 10 minutes and 13 minutes of football respectively in the same period.

It's something of a miracle Morrison has got so much out of so few players over the past month, and it's a testament to the players involved that they've given so much to the cause.

But I'm sure none of them would be averse to seeing the cavalry riding over the hill to help them out in the final weeks of this relegation battle.

Listen to more from Chris Hall at the Albion Analysis, external