Leeds United travel to the Midlands to face West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns in their final match of 2020.
The Whites are coming off of a 1-0 victory over Burnley to sit 11th in the Premier League table while the Baggies snatched a point in a 1-1 draw against Liverpool to remain 19th, six points from safety.
Team news
Captain Jake Livermore is serving the second of a three-match ban after being sent off in West Brom's 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa while Hal Robson-Kanu (arm), Kyle Bartley (leg/foot), Conor Townsend (knee) and Sam Field (knee) are all sidelined.
Liam Cooper will miss out for Leeds due to an abdominal strain as well as Robin Koch as he continues to recover from a long-term knee injury while Diego Llorente is a doubt with a muscle issue, further depleting the Whites' defense.
Predicted line-ups
West Bromwich Albion: Johnstone; Furlong, Ajayi, O'Shea, Gibbs; Robinson, Pereira, Sawyers, Gallagher, Diagana; Grant
Leeds United: Meslier; Struijk, Phillips, Ayling; Harrison, Alioski, Klich, Dallas, Raphinha; Rodrigo; Bamford
Previous meeting
The last meeting between West Brom and Leeds came on New Year's Day of this year when the teams played to a 1-1 draw at The Hawthorns. Semi Ajayi scored at both ends.
Following a goalmouth scramble, the Ivorian poked home past Kiko Casilla to give the Baggies a 1-0 lead just two minutes into the match, but he deflected Patrick Bamford's header past Sam Johnstone in the 52nd minute.
Ones to watch
Matt Phillips wore the captain's armband for the first time in his career at Anfield while Ajayi opened his Premier League account with an 82nd minute equalizer against reigning champions Liverpool,
Bamford struck from the penalty spot in Leeds' 1-0 victory over Burnley, his 10th goal in the Whites' 15 top-flight matches, ranking him fifth in the league.
Managers' thoughts
Sam Allardyce is in charge of his third game at West Brom and he was quick to praise Johnstone, who has made the most saves of any goalkeeper in the Premier League this season.
Speaking to the media, Allardyce said "He's one of the best. I think that's pleasing to see as he's one of the two most important people in your team. The goalscorer is your first and the goalkeeper is second.
"He's right up there at the right level and he'd already saved more shots than anybody before yesterday. The defense was so good yesterday that Sam had little or nothing to do. We've got to keep that up."
Marcelo Bielsa addressed the recent form of Mateusz Klich, who has been substituted early on in Leeds' last two matches, stating "he had a very difficult game (against Burnley). He had to defend a lot and in the first half he resolved the necessities of the game well.
"In the second half the game was a lot more confusing and the best things that he does were difficult to develop in this type of game. He's a player who manages the ball very well and we didn't have the ball a lot in the second half."
How to watch
West Bromwich Albion vs Leeds United is available to watch on Prime Video with coverage starting at 5:00pm and kick-off an hour later at 6:00pm.
If you're unable to watch, make sure to remain with VAVEL for all the build-up, live text coverage, and analysis.