Baggies set for the final push to safety

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·2 April 2026

Baggies set for the final push to safety

West Bromwich Albion v Wrexham; The Hawthorns, Friday 3rd April 2026, 3pm

The international break may have come at the wrong time for the Baggies given the back-to-back victories achieved coming into it, but at least Albion fans can look forward to the remaining seven games of the season with hope rather than trepidation.

Of course, it is far from “job done” it terms of securing Championship football for next season – the Baggies remain just four points clear of the bottom three – but the situation is markedly improved from the one that James Morrison inherited. While the defeat at Oxford in his first match was arguably the low point of the campaign, the unbeaten run of four games since then, including the first back-to-back wins since the opening two matches of the season, has seen both the team and the fanbase grow in confidence. The clarity in messaging that Eric Ramsay promised in his first press conference at the club was apparently missing given how the players performed in his tenure; Mozza, on the other hand, has not minced words and, after calling the players out publicly, he has taken a back-to-basics approach that seems to be working.

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Friday’s opponents were beaten in the second of the two victories that kicked off Albion’s campaign and Mozza’s team will be looking to complete their first league double of the season. The Hollywood-backed club are looking to secure what would be an incredible fourth successive promotion and are only outside the top six on goal difference. In a run of 13 matches after Christmas, the Red Dragons picked up 29 points lifting them from 15th, where they were level on points with Albion, to 6th place at the end of February, four points clear of 7th. They have had two wins and two defeats since then allowing Southampton to take their spot in the play-off places, but they remain well in touch.

Wrexham’s recent results have seen them lose 2-1 at home to Hull City, a team the Baggies recently beat 3-0, and win 2-1 at Sheffield United where Albion earned a point. They also beat Swansea at home and lost at Watford. They have also beaten all of the teams around Albion in the second half of the season, bar Oxford United who they play later this month.

When the Baggies won at the Racecourse in August, there was little sign that the two teams would go on to have their respective seasons – for the Red Dragons, they very much grew into the season from the autumn onwards and were the first team to inflict a league defeat on Coventry City at the end of October. Their eight wins on the road means they have the sixth best away record in the division and they will certainly be a tough opponent.

There is a little-known family connection between the clubs in that the Wrexham goalkeeper, Arthur Okonkwo, has a younger brother Brian, also a goalkeeper, who is a member of the Baggies’ U23 squad. The brothers both started their football careers at Arsenal with Arthur moving to north Wales in 2024 after a successful loan spell, while Brian moved to the Hawthorns last summer.

Phil Parkinson’s side will be backed by a sell-out away allocation at the Shrine and they will be full of confidence after their win at Bramall Lane before the break. Wrexham top scorer, Kieffer Moore, has missed the last four games for the Red Dragons with a hamstring injury, and was ruled out of the Wales side for the recent World Cup play-off – Parkinson says he has made “good progress” but he remains a doubt for Friday’s match. Former Baggies striker, Jay Rodriguez, could make an appearance – the 36-year-old has missed much of the season with an ankle injury but has made a few substitute appearances recently. He last scored just over a year ago, netting in a 2-0 win at Exeter City in March 2025.

Sam Smith has led the line in Moore’s absence with either Josh Windass or Nathan Broadhead providing an additional goal threat. There are plenty of goals in the Wrexham squad even without Moore’s 13 goals – Windass has 11, Broadhead 9 and Smith 8. As a team, the Red Dragons are the fifth highest scorers in the Championship although Hull City are the only side in the top eleven to have conceded more. Scoring against Wrexham should be doable if Albion can come close to their performance levels in their last home game; keeping them out is probably more difficult.

James Morrison is likely to pick a starting line-up very similar to the one that started at Ashton Gate a fortnight ago, although Max O’Leary is back in contention having recovered from the knock he received in the 3-0 victory over Hull City. Josh Griffiths performed well in the remainder of that game, and made one or two key saves in the victory over Bristol City, so it is not a straightforward decision.

Karlan Grant, Chris Mepham and Tammer Bany are all in training but not yet ready for a return to the first team but, with luck, Mozza might have a few more options before the end of the season.

As bullish as we all felt before the international break, a drop off in performance or a bad result will cause jitters amongst Baggies fans ahead of the crucial trip to Ewood Park on Monday. However, if Mozza’s men can send the Hollywood set back to north Wales pointless, it would be a massive result.

History

History will be made on Friday as Wrexham make their first ever visit to the Hawthorns for a competitive match for what will be only the second league meeting between the sides and the fourth in all competitions. Wrexham will be the 121st different opponent in competitive fixtures for Albion at the Hawthorns. The previous first-time visitor to the Shrine was Aldershot Town for their FA Cup tie in January 2024, while the last team whose first visit was a league fixture was Gillingham in November 2000. On both those occasions, the Baggies were victorious beating the Shots 4-1, with Jovan Malcolm grabbing a debut goal, and the Gills 3-1 thanks to a Lee Hughes hat trick.

Sitting, as they do, in seventh place, the Red Dragons look set to finish in their highest ever league position this season – to date, they have never finished higher than 15th in the second tier in the first of their four-season stint in Division Two between 1978 and 1982. Having already secured a record three successive promotions, the “Hollywood club” are hoping to make it four in a row by advancing to the Premier League via the play-offs.

Before this season, Albion and Wrexham had met just twice in competitive fixtures, both at the Racecourse Ground. The first, in 1930, was a 1-0 FA Cup third round victory for the Welsh side thanks to a goal from Billy Mays, while the second was a 2-1 win for Albion in the short-lived Watney Cup in July 1971 with Bomber Brown scoring both of the visitors’ goals.