West Brom: EFL pundit drops exciting Carlos Corberan promotion prediction | OneFootball

Carlos Corberan's side have been impressive in their start to the season, and are currently unbeaten

Football League pundit George Elek believes Carlos Corberan could have his West Bromwich Albion set up for a Championship promotion charge this season.

After a summer of discontent at the Hawthorns, where the club had to rely on bargain buys to bolster their squad, the Baggies have come out flying with three wins and a draw to start the season.

Away wins over Stoke City and Queens Park Rangers have been supplemented by a stalemate with Leeds United and Saturday’s 1-0 win over Swansea City at the Hawthorns, leaving Albion unbeaten and full of confidence heading into the international break.

With the club being under an EFL-imposed business plan throughout the summer, recruitment had to be shrewd, and Elek believes Corberan’s managerial skills are getting the best out of the squad he has put together.

Carlos Corberan has West Brom thriving despite turbulent summer

It was a summer of upheaval at the Hawthorns, with the likes of Brandon Thomas-Asante, Okay Yokuslu and Cedric Kipre leaving the club, leaving Corberan needing to be creative with his recruitment to adhere to the financial implications on his head.

The Baggies only spent transfer fees on three players during the most-recent transfer window, with Mikey Johnston rejoining the club from Celtic, while Callum Styles and Torbjorn Heggem joined for reported six-figure fees from Barnsley and Brommapojkarna respectively.

Despite that, Corberan has once again got his Albion team functioning at a high level, with their early performances proving they could be genuine promotion contenders once again this season, as Elek attests to after their recent victory over Swansea City.

The Not The Top 20 co-host said: “I think it is kind of time to start taking notice of West Brom again, where there was so much pre-season negativity around Baggies just purely in terms of the players they were losing.

“And the question why they were losing them, why they were happy to lose them, why they were bringing in Devante Cole, and there probably are still some concerns around squad depth.

“But honestly, Carlos Corberan is able just to take a group of players and turn them into such a high-functioning team, where yes, they only won this game 1-0 through a decent [Jayson] Molumby finish, but they were completely and utterly dominant.

“18 shots to Swansea’s six, four big chances to Swansea’s one, the xG numbers were 2.40 to 0.46. Constant pressure, constant ability to create chances.

“I still believe that because of Luton’s clear issues, because there are still big question marks around Burnley right now, Sheffield United, it doesn’t feel like a completely strong group of relegated sides.

“I still think Leeds are very good, but it does feel like this is a great season for a Boro, a West Brom, a Coventry, a Sunderland, someone to step up and be a dominant force, and I don’t see any reason why that can’t be Baggies right now.”

Albion have made a flying start to the season

Albion came flying out the blocks to start the season, with Josh Maja claiming a hat-trick on the opening day to secure a 3-1 victory over QPR and the Baggies playing some free-flowing football at Loftus Road.

With young star Tom Fellows proving to be one of the top stars in the division, Maja back to his best after injury troubles, Albion looked like a side that means business in the 24/25 campaign, and showed a more stoic side of their game in the 0-0 draw with Leeds United the weekend after.

With that ability to rip teams apart going forward, coupled with their staunch defensive performances when needed, Corberan has nurtured a side that can go toe-to-toe with anyone in the division as it stands, despite the limited resources at his disposal.