West Brom v Bournemouth - Match preview

Instead, Albion versus Bournemouth looks destined to be another night of frustration for Baggies supporters – no matter how well their team plays.

Following the pitiful display at Birmingham on Sunday, there is understandable anger among fans. They paid good money to watch this team fall apart from December through to February.

A run of one win in 13 games during that time effectively ended their promotion hopes.

But when the pressure was off and the hope was gone, Albion responded with a brilliant display to beat league leaders Fulham. The reason why they played well has already been made clear – the pressure was off, the expectation gone.

But in the last two outings, these players have slipped back into their old ways.

The Baggies were poor at Bristol City – and only came away with a point thanks to Adam Reach’s last-minute equaliser.

Somehow, though, they were even worse against Blues. In a match both managers admitted was bereft of quality, Albion failed to have a shot on target.

In truth, they failed to create any chances from open play – with their only threat coming from Darnell Furlong’s long-throws.

To muster such a woeful performance in a derby is unacceptable.

But it no longer comes as a surprise. Had Albion beaten a poor Blues side, they’d now be just five outside the play-offs. Despite having had an awful campaign, they’d somehow still be in with a shot.

But any hope of gatecrashing the top six went following that defeat.

It may still be mathematically possible. But that derby display confirmed this group of players haven’t got the strength of character to do it.

The winning mentality that’s needed just isn’t there.

With the pressure off tonight, there is every chance Albion will play well against a Bournemouth side who look destined to win automatic promotion.

But even if they do, fans will expect a vast drop in performance levels to be just around the corner – probably against Stoke on Saturday.

For Steve Bruce, tonight’s game remains vitally important even if supporters interest has waned.

The 61-year-old is not the reason for Albion’s problems.

But in the remaining seven games he has to show he can be the solution – otherwise there’ll be a big call for change this summer.

It will be interesting to see how the boss lines Albion up tonight.

In an ideal world, Bruce would like to play a 4-3-3 formation.

But after an initial experiment with that system, he reverted back to 3-5-2 because that’s the formation within which Albion look the most defensively sound.

The Baggies, though, were so toothless over the weekend, Bruce may feel it’s time to change again.

Andy Carroll will certainly be in his thoughts after strikers Callum Robinson and Karlan Grant performed so poorly at St Andrew’s.