West Bromwich Albion appear to be taking on the Championship in a 4-2-3-1 formation this season, with Steve Bruce seeing it as the ideal system to get the best out of his squad.

Jed Wallace and John Swift combined brilliantly, after a smart through ball from Jayson Molumby, part of the double-pivot set them away, to score the equaliser at Middlesbrough in gameweek one.

The Baggies typically went with a back three under Valerien Ismael and Bruce for a period of time last season, but the experienced boss is confident that the 4-2-3-1 can give them an edge.

Bruce explained his reasons for choosing the system when he spoke to The Athletic.

He said: "80% of the Championship last year was a back three, but two teams that went up last year were a back four.

"We’re wary of the threat and we could have been a back three, but I wanted to be different.

"I thought a way to be different with what we’ve got is to change the formation because we don’t have wing-backs, but we’ve got really decent wide players.

"That’s where our strength is."

Bruce has a lot of talented wide players in his squad, and their influence on games may have been reduced by playing a system involving wing backs, and therefore looking at the squad at The Hawthorns, 4-2-3-1 seems to suit them down to the ground.

The Verdict

The Baggies deployed a back four when they clinched automatic promotion to the Premier League under Slaven Bilic in 2019/20, and it should play to their strengths with the likes of Jed Wallace, Matt Phillips, Karlan Grant and Grady Diangana capable of wreaking havoc from wide attacking roles.

The visit of Watford this evening will offer a very interesting test and potentially a defensive examination, should Emmanuel Dennis, Ismaila Sarr and Joao Pedro all keep their place on the team sheet.

Rob Edwards has stuck with a three at the back formation, having been so successful with one at Forest Green Rovers, and it will be fascinating to see how they match-up under the lights.