Brandon Thomas-Asante eased dominant West Brom back to winning ways with a 1-0 Championship victory over 10-man Norwich after the visitors had Borja Sainz needlessly sent off in the first half at The Hawthorns.
Thomas-Asante grabbed the all-important goal in the 50th minute to cement West Brom’s position of fifth in the table.
But Norwich were forced to play almost an hour with 10 men after the Spanish winger was dismissed for two bookable offences, the second one dissent.
Carlos Corberan’s side were good value for their second win in six as they created chances galore – virtually all from man of the match Jed Wallace – with John Swift hitting the post.
West Brom dominated the first half-hour and should have been comfortably in the lead.
Swift was the chief culprit, missing no fewer than six openings of various difficulty.
Two early hopeful long-range shots from the former Reading forward flew high and wide before he volleyed against the woodwork from Wallace’s inviting cross on the run.
Swift then sent a floating header high and wide from Okay Yokuslu’s cross before the 28-year-old missed his kick in front of goal after Wallace teed him up again.
The game appeared to swing even more towards Albion when Sainz’s dramatic five minutes started with a 30th-minute booking for bringing down Grady Diangana.
Swift’s dipping shot from 30 yards was tipped away by goalkeeper Angus Gunn before Sainz’s shot was saved by Alex Palmer.
Within 60 seconds, Sainz hooked the ball inches wide after Jonathan Rowe got a faint touch to flick on a long throw-in.
But the Spaniard picked up a second yellow card – for dissent in the 34th minute – to leave his team a man down.
The hosts returned to the attack and Thomas-Asante sent a shot on the turn straight at Gunn.
Norwich head coach David Wagner clearly had defence on his mind as he replaced striker Ashley Barnes and winger Rowe with centre-backs Grant Hanley and Danny Batth at half-time.
But it made little difference as Thomas-Asante finally broke the deadlock.
The striker scrambled home his eighth goal of the season from two yards out after Diangana headed Wallace’s cross goalwards.
It remained one-way traffic and efforts from Diangana, Swift’s chip and Darnell Furlong all went wide, all three chances from Wallace’s assists.
But Palmer had to be alert and he made a vital one-handed save from substitute Ui-Jo Hwang to keep Albion’s lead intact.
Southampton 3-1 West Brom (3-1 agg): Saints set up play-off final with Leeds United
Southampton saw off West Brom 3-1 at St Mary's on Friday to set up a Championship play-off final showdown with Leeds United.
Leeds thumped Norwich City 4-0 at Elland Road 24 hours earlier to book their place at Wembley, where Southampton now await on May 26.
The first leg between the Saints and West Brom finished goalless - just like the other semi-final - but the home side's quality told in the end.
Russell Martin's side dominated the first-half possession, with David Brooks going closest to scoring with a shot that hit the outside of the post.
Southampton made the breakthrough via a powerful Will Smallbone finish four minutes into the second half after Gray Diangana lost possession.
Darnell Furlong had a shot helped over by Alex McCarthy, while David Brooks - who assisted the opener - had a strong penalty appeal rejected.
Southampton remained in control, though, and Adam Armstrong scored a second with a shot through Furlong's legs and past Alex Palmer.
Armstrong's second goal arrived from the penalty spot in the 86th minute after Tom Fellows fouled Ryan Manning in the box, rendering Cedric Kipre's late header a mere consolation.
Al-Nassr 1-1 Al-Hilal: Mitrovic scores last-gasp penalty
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a penalty in the 10th minute of second-half stoppage time as Al-Hilal denied Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr victory in a 1-1 draw.
Mitrovic netted his 27th Saudi Pro League goal of the campaign after Sadio Mane was harshly judged to have fouled Saud Abdulhamid in the area.
Mane stuck out an arm to shield the ball, catching his opponent in the throat, though the contact appeared to have been outside of the box.
Mitrovic made no mistake to keep Al-Hilal's unbeaten campaign going.
The Serbian's spot-kick cancelled out Otavio's first-minute opener, with Ronaldo having set up his compatriot.
Champions Al-Hilal remain 12 points clear of Al-Nassr at the summit of the Pro League standings.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo the provider
Ronaldo leads the scoring charts in Saudi Arabia this season, though he had to settle for an assist on Friday.
That came from the only chance he created, with the 39-year-old limited to 25 touches, though he did have four shots.
Leeds' belief never wavered as Wembley beckons
Ethan Ampadu said Leeds United's players never let their belief waver despite a poor end to their Championship campaign, with a trip to Wembley now coming up.
Leeds will face either Southampton or West Brom in the play-off final on May 26 after thrashing Norwich City 4-0 at Elland Road on Thursday.
The Whites endured a miserable end to their campaign, losing 4-0 at Queens Park Rangers before going down at home to Southampton on the final day, as Ipswich Town claimed automatic promotion behind Leicester City.
But after their emphatic defeat of the Canaries, who they drew with 0-0 in the first leg, Ampadu claimed Leeds never lost their way.
"Towards the end of the season there was a lot of talk about how we were playing, how we weren't on the front foot, how we weren't aggressive or clinical," he told Sky Sports.
"But we always had our belief that on our day, when we are firing, we can be hard for anyone to play against.
"When the front four, five, six play like that, they make the job of us defenders a lot easier.
"Whoever we play in the final it's going to be a hard game but to go in like this, to put in a performance like this, we can take momentum and confidence into it.
"The fans were second to none and we enjoyed their support – now we are going to prepare for the big one."
Georginio Rutter scored one and set up another in the rout, and he put the onus on Leeds to replicate the same level at Wembley.
"It's incredible. Today we go to Wembley," he said.
"We played a good game. I'm happy, everybody is happy. One more game and we will see.
"We played very good. 4-0 is a clean sheet. Today, we were mature. It's a very good performance from the team.
"I want to try my best and help the team. If we play like this [at the final], we have a good chance but we have to play like this."
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