West Brom play-off hopes assessed by Opta

Coventry City duo Jack Rudoni and Matt Grimes were on the scoresheet as the Sky Blues claimed a comfortable 2-0 victory over West Brom in the Championship. It marks a serious dent in West Brom’s ambitions of a top six finish and significantly means Tony Mowbray is still yet to taste victory away from the Hawthorns since returning to the club in January.

It also means the Baggies are on a run of just one victory in their last six games, leaving them six points away from the play-offs and needing a drastic turnaround if they are to sneak back into the promotion picture. West Brom end the season with games against Derby County, Cardiff City and Luton Town - three teams that could feasibly end up in League One next season.

The West Midlands side will be favourites to win all three of those games, but will be wary of the threat posed by a trio of teams fighting for their life to save their second-tier status. But what chance do West Brom have of staging a late play-off bid? Here we take a look at the data from Opta to assess the current state of affairs.

Can West Brom achieve a play-off place finish?

The current Opta predicted Championship table makes grim reading for West Brom fans, with the data experts predicting an eighth place finish, with the club achieving 65 points, leaving them six points away from a play-off place. Despite fairly favourable end of the season fixtures, with teams fighting to survive in the Championship, the Baggies are expected to pick up five points from a possible nine in their last three games.

Tony Mowbray’s men still have a small possibility of turning this around, according to Opta, who have given them a miniscule 5.6% chance of gatecrashing the top six. Elsewhere, Sheffield United, Sunderland, Bristol City and Coventry City are all expected to finish in the top six, with Middlesbrough providing the nearest competition with a projected seventh place finish.

Here is the full Championship table, according to OPTA, including final points tallies:

Leeds United - 97
Burnley - 97
Sheff Utd - 91
Sunderland - 81
Bristol City - 71
Coventry - 70
Middlesbrough - 67
West Brom - 65
Millwall - 64
Blackburn - 62
Swansea - 61
Watford - 60
Sheff Wed - 57
Norwich - 57
QPR - 56
Portsmouth - 53
Preston - 53
Stoke - 53
Oxford - 51
Hull - 50
Derby - 47
Luton - 46
Cardiff - 46
Plymouth - 43

‘We didn't perform at our level’

Following the 2-0 defeat to Coventry City, a frustrated Tony Mowbray criticised his team for failing to show the required intensity and says his side are simply not picking up enough points away from home at this moment in a concerning period of the campaign.

He told BBC Sport: "It was disappointing, frustrating. We didn't perform at our level. It's frustrating that we aren't getting to the level we need to be at in such big games.

"Away, we just haven't accrued the points that we need to. Coventry are a decent team and they're on a good run of form and yet I still felt that we would come here and dominate more. But they played pretty well first half.

"We tried to make the changes at half-time that would have given us more control and yet we lost a goal within three minutes and had a sending-off pretty quickly after, and obviously the dynamic changed.

"But it's football. You have to take it on the chin. We've lost late goals in games when we felt we should have been winning, and found a way to lose or drop points, but that wasn't the case this time. We've lost a little of our normal intensity."