Wrexham welcome West Brom to North Wales on Saturday for their first home league match of the season.
In the Championship opener, Wrexham lost 2-1 away at Southampton. Phil Parkinson’s side were massively disappointed to not come away with all three points as Southampton scored two injury time goals to deal the Dragons an opening day upset.
There were plenty of positives to take from the game nonetheless and in midweek, Wrexham came from behind to beat Hull City in the Carabao Cup, inspired by Ollie Palmer who himself scored two late goals for the Dragons.
West Brom are Championship regulars. They’ve been in and out of the Premier League over the last decade or so and they’ll be expected to challenge for promotion again this season.
In their opening fixture, they beat Blackburn Rovers 1-0 before then losing to Championship rivals Derby County in the Carabao Cup in midweek.
Wrexham team news vs West Brom
The big bit of injury news for Wrexham right now is the injury to Kieffer Moore. Moore started for Wrexham and impressed on his debut against Southampton last weekend, but just before the hour mark, Moore suffered an ankle ligament injury which forced him off the pitch and could see him spend a significant amount of time on the sidelines.
It’s a huge blow for Parkinson and for Wrexham, but the club are waiting to assess Moore’s injury this week, hoping that the swelling around his ankle goes down. He’ll no doubt miss the West Brom game, however, and he could join the club’s longer-term injury absentees, including Ollie Rathbone.
Elsewhere, new signing George Thomason has picked up a thigh injury which could keep him out for a while yet, whilst Jay Rodriguez recently underwent surgery and he too is sidelined.
Predicted Wrexham lineup vs West Brom
Predicting Parkinson’s Wrexham XI for Saturday will prove difficult. Against Southampton, Parkinson surprised everyone by dropping Arthur Okonkwo and replacing him with summer signing Danny Ward who looked steady against Southampton. But in the game against Hull City, Okonkwo made a number of decent saves, so who starts in goal against West Brom remains a bit of a mystery.
Meanwhile, expect a new signing Liberato Cacace to keep his place in defence, along with Conor Coady who impressed on his Wrexham debut last weekend. Lewis O’Brien should also keep his spot in the XI, though we might see some changes to the players either side of him.
Against Southampton, George Dobson and Matty James started in midfield, but after Elliot Lee’s goal in the game against Hull City, he may well have worked his way back into the XI for this weekend.
Up front, expect Josh Windass to keep his place, with Ryan Hardie potentially set to be the man who comes in. Given Sam Smith’s recent injury, he may well be kept on the bench in favour, in place of Hardie.
Here’s how we think Wrexham will line up in the game against West Brom this weekend…
Ward (GK)
Cacace
Brunt
Coady
Cleworth
Barnett
O’Brien
James
Lee
Windass
Hardie