Southampton and West Brom are preparing for the first of their two-legged Championship play-off semi-final.
The two sides will first meet at The Hawthorns on Sunday, before Southampton have the benefit of a home tie in the second leg on the following Friday night.
The winner over the two legs will then face the winner in the other semi-final between Leeds United and Norwich City in the final at Wembley on 26th May.
Both Southampton and West Brom ended the regular season with wins, as the Saints won 2-1 away at Leeds and the Baggies were 3-0 victors over Preston at home.
Southampton also have the better of the two meetings between the clubs this season, winning both.
Now, West Brom manager Carlos Corberan has revealed why he feels his side are the underdogs in the upcoming semi-final.
Carlos Corberan believes Southampton are favourites
The Spanish coach has done a remarkable job to steer West Brom to the play-offs, with the club not spending a penny in transfer fees this season.
Corberan is widely considered to be one of the best managers in the Championship, with many citing his tactical flexibility as the main reason for this.
He has been here before, too.
The 41-year-old guided Huddersfield Town to third in the 2021/22 season before eventually losing the play-off final to Nottingham Forest having beaten Luton Town in the semi-finals.
That experience should stand Corberan in good stead, but he insists Southampton are favourites in the semi-final.
Previewing the two-legged encounter, Corberan said: “They are favourites without any type of doubt because they have finished in a position better than our position.
“I don’t know the points difference, but there has been a gap between the top four teams in the league and the others. It means they are a team that has made very good things and we need to do a lot of work to achieve our target to arrive in the final of the play-offs.
“But we have the possibility and we are going to fight to use our possibility.”
Southampton must rise to Corberan pressure
Whilst nothing Corberan has said is untrue, it is the beginning of what is likely to be a fortnight of mind games from both managers.
Southampton finished one place above West Brom in the league but were 12 points better off come the end of the season.
Corberan’s comments were likely made in an attempt to increase the pressure on Russell Martin‘s Southampton side whilst simultaneously relieving some of the pressure his players are feeling.
Despite his comments, Corberan will undoubtedly feel like he can devise a plan to overcome Southampton and set up another Wembley final for the manager.
West Brom are a solid unit and only conceded 47 goals in 46 Championship games this season.
For context, Southampton let in 63 league goals.
They carry a threat in attack too and Southampton will have to be at their best if they are to progress to face either Leeds or Norwich in the final.
Both ties look set to be real blockbuster affairs and, with so much on the line, expect all of the managers involved to say anything they can to try and manufacture some sort of advantage.