West Bromwich Albion manager Slaven Bilic has predicted that goals will come for forward duo Charlie Austin and Kenneth Zohore.

Both men arrived at the club this summer but have scored just once between them, with Austin finding the net against Millwall in the Carabao Cup.

Zohore started against Luton Town in the 2-1 win on Saturday and had just one shot before he was replaced in the 78th minute by Austin, who had three shots and hit the post but was unable to find the net.

Speaking to the Express and Star after the game, Bilic insisted that goals would come for both strikers.

In praise of Zohore, he said: “On the one hand with centre forwards it's always about how many goals you score.

"I told him [Zohore] the goals will come, but we need a guy who can play the balls off to the players because our second row are our biggest weapons.

"He was very good at that in the second half. The goals will come, he has to believe it, and work hard like he did on Saturday.”

Discussing the performance of Austin and his shot that hit the post, he added: “Charlie was a bit unlucky.

“He was there, he knows where to be. We need him to score that goal and I'd love him to. I was pleased he was in the right place and he will score goals."

The Baggies face Reading at the Hawthorns in their fourth Championship game of the season on Wednesday.

[ad_pod ]

The Verdict

It was always going to be tough to replace last season’s top-scorers, Dwight Gayle and Jay Rodriguez, but in Zohore and Austin, Bilic has two interesting options.

Gayle and Rodriguez scored a combined total of 46 goals last season but the former was on loan and returned to his parent club, while the latter joined Burnley this summer.

If Bilic can get his new strikers scoring that many goals this season his side should be well set to make a serious promotion push.

Both Austin and Zohore have shown they’re capable of reaching double figures in the Championship in previous seasons, so the Croatian coach’s belief in them is understandable.