Bristol City will have to break an unwanted record if they are to enter the international break with a renewed sense of positivity and progression, as opposed to the growing concern around the club.
In nine games against the Robins, having spent a largely unremarkable five months on loan in the 2015/16 season, in which he was sent back to Aston Villa after just seven appearances, Callum Robinson has never been on the losing side - winning eight and drawing just once.
In fact, you have to go back to April 2015, when he was on loan at Preston from Villa and played for six months off the bench in a 1-1 draw, for the last time Robinson wasn't victorious in a match against City.
The 27-year-old has also scored six goals in that time and laid on three assists and the Baggies now have their tails up, having taken seven points from a possible nine of their last three matches to reignite hopes of a promotion bid.
Robinson has formed a strong partnership with Karlan Grant, who scored in the reverse fixture at the Hawthorns in October after Danny Simpson’s woeful back pass, and with the need for wins to climb further up the table, City can expect the Baggies to come out firing at Ashton Gate.
It doesn’t bode well for a vulnerable City defence, which is ranked 22nd in the Championship for goals conceded (67), 22nd for shots allowed (14.2) and 23rd for expected goals against per game (1.57). But stopping Robinson, just in a symbolic sense, could go some way to clawing something from the game.
Robinson struck the winner in the Baggies 1-0 win over league leaders Fulham on Tuesday, ending an 11-match drought, and has 10 goals for the season in all competitions.
"Fulham is the benchmark for us for the rest of the season," Robinson told the Express & Star. "I think it had been coming. We got the win against Hull and then a massive point against Huddersfield thanks to two late goals. Now we have got to push on and keep winning games.
"Everyone knows we have got some good players at this football club. Top quality players. It’s been difficult. We are only human with our emotions and when it’s not going so well it’s hard to get out of that – when you are losing and drawing games.
"But now, hopefully, we can get a few wins together and see what happens. In this league, in particular, you can go on a run. Hopefully, we are out of the worst now and we can push on."
After a challenging start, in which he failed to win his first five games with four defeats and a solitary draw, Steve Bruce has struck upon a formula with the Baggies, shifting to a 3-5-2 with Robinson and Grant’s partnership as an attacking duo crucial to how they set up.
Bruce outlined exactly what he expects from the trip to the West Country as with six points to make up on QPR in sixth and 13 on Bournemouth in second, nothing less than three points will suffice.
“Now I’m going to put the pressure on us,” Bruce said. “We’ve got a huge game at Bristol City on Saturday. Can we go and repeat that kind of performance? Let’s hope we can because we have to win.”
Bruce is set to name an unchanged starting XI with £7m January signing Daryl Dike possibly on the bench after a six-week injury absence. Bruce has started he wants the American international to start for the Under-23 on Monday night against Nottingham Forest.
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