Clarets praised as top Championship outfit
Boss Carlos Corberan sees tonight’s visitors Burnley as one of the leading lights Albion and many others are chasing.
The Clarets appointed Scott Parker to replace Vincent Kompany in the summer and enjoyed a solid start to the Championship season but come to The Hawthorns without a win in three.
Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Millwall came two days after Corberan’s troops claimed a point at Luton’s Kenilworth Road. The Baggies head coach reckons Burnley’s narrow defeat in the capital did not come as any surprise to him due to a competitive Championship.
Corberan did flag Burnley, however, as among the division’s top three squads. He placed the Turf Moor club in the same bracket as fellow Premier League relegation victims Sheffield United and last season’s beaten play-off finalists Leeds.
The head coach rates Albion in a chasing pack of 14 clubs hunting down the squads packed with automatic promotion-level quality – though he did add that early leaders Sunderland are very much deserved of their position.
“I think in this league it is difficult to predict results,” said Corberan. “This year is going to be especially difficult to predict results.
“There are some squads that can be one step in front of others, a couple, two or three. And after that there is a group of 14 teams, in my opinion, where all the squads are at a similar level with strengths and weaknesses but with options.”