A clash that has considerable ramifications at the summit of the Championship league table takes place on Tuesday evening when West Bromwich Albion host Fulham.
'The Baggies' currently have one foot in the Premier League, finding themselves in the automatic promotion places by a measly three-points, with two in-form sides breathing down their neck.
One of those being this week's opponents, Scott Parker's 'Cottagers', who have reacted to two defeats against fellow promotion hopefuls Leeds United and Brentford with a run of four consecutive wins.
Not the only London club that this result could affect though, with Thomas Frank's 'Bees' likely hoping for anything but a home win to leave the door to top-flight riches slightly ajar.
Slaven Bilic has definitely had his impact since taking over the West-Midlands hot seat at the start of the season, seemingly on-track to achieve the club’s ambition to return to the country's top division, but their return-to-action has lacked the quality and consistency that lead them to where they are today.
West Brom have won just three of their six games since Championship football resumed in June, but a victory on Tuesday will surely put their worries of falling below the top-two at rest.
They will be happy that aside from a hamstring injury to full-back Kieran Gibbs, Bilic can pick from a full-squad enriched with fantastic players ahead of their crunch game midweek.
A similar situation for Fulham, who would've been happy to see the division's joint-top-scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic return from his three-game ban with a goal against Cardiff City in their last outing.
With West Brom winless in this fixture since 2010, I expect that dismal record to increase further, but as I can’t predict who will come out of this with a monumental three-points, both teams will be forced to share the spoils for the sixth time in their last eight encounters. Bringing a likely end to Fulham's hopes of an automatic place whilst increasing that of their capital city rivals Brentford.
Match Preview written by Ethan Evans.
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