West Brom were forced to settle for a point on Monday evening when they were held by Brentford at the Hawthorns, with Darren Moore's side losing ground on the league-leaders, Norwich City. 

The Baggies face an even tougher task on Friday when they host bitter local rivals Aston Villa in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

Villa come into this one off the back of convincing 3-0 win over Middlesbrough at the weekend, when they sent out a serious statement to their promotion rivals.

Dean Smith's side are the in-form team in the Championship having won four of their last five matches, and Villa will be hoping that they can keep up the pressure on the top-six heading into the festive period.

The Villa boss will be well aware of the threat that West Brom pose to his side, but he will be hoping to put a further dent in their promotion bid when they face off this week.

But what can Villa exploit on Friday when they face the Baggies?

Find out here....

Whilst the win over Leeds in November was a sign of what the Baggies can do, recent performances against Swansea City and Brentford have been below-par.

Moore has kept the same starting XI since the win over Leeds, with West Brom's performances starting to look leggy, particularly in midfield.

Villa can definitely exploit that.

Villa have scored an astonishing 17 goals in their last five league matches and they are only behind West Brom in the goalscoring charts overall this season.

The form of Tammy Abraham is remarkable and Villa look a real threat going forward.

Whilst West Brom's defence has improved since Moore switched to a back-four, there's no denying that Villa could rip them to pieces as they have done with Derby and Boro recently.

Brentford have already shown that if you stay in the game long enough, then you have a chance.

The Bees held out until the 77th minute before Harvey Barnes opened the scoring, but Brentford then held them again and Lewis Macleod netted the equaliser at the death to secure a point.

West Brom aren't finishing teams off despite creating a host of chances. They will need to find their cutting edge if they are to beat Villa.

[ad_pod ]