Albion’s unbeaten run may have gone at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, but they have a great chance to get back to winning ways on Wednesday when struggling Swansea City visit the Hawthorns.
In the first of two home fixtures for the Baggies ahead of Christmas, Bob Bradley brings his side to the Black Country looking for their first win on the road since the opening day of the season when they took all three points home from Turf Moor, although that was, of course, under the stewardship of Francesco Guidolin.
It took the American six games to record his first victory, a remarkable 5-4 defeat of Crystal Palace, and promptly followed that up by getting thumped 5-0 at Tottenham. However, a 3-0 win over Sunderland at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday will have raised spirits at the club that they can improve on what has been a thoroughly dreadful start to the season.
All Albion fans, however, will be expecting another victory. Too many times in Tony Pulis’s tenure have Albion failed to capitalise on the poor form of a visiting club, and many teams have kicked off a mini-recovery with a result at the Hawthorns, not least Leicester City two years ago. This season, however, there is an expectation that Albion will score goals. 13 goals in 7 home games this season is a vast improvement on last season’s tally of barely more than a goal a game at home, and with Swansea having conceded 31 goals already this season, it would be a surprise if Albion were to fail to score on Wednesday.
At Chelsea on Sunday, however, it was more about not conceding goals, although Pulis did express disappointment that Albion hadn’t made more of the opportunities they had. In the end, it came down a minor hesitation from Gareth McAuley and a piece of brilliance from Diego Costa. While Chelsea unsurprisingly dominated possession, that was pretty much the only clear cut chance that they had and Albion could’ve easily come away with a draw.
Pulis named an unchanged line up for the fifth match in succession at Stamford Bridge, with Nacer Chadli still unable to dislodge James Morrison from the starting line-up. He will, however, have to make a change on Wednesday after Craig Dawson picked up his fifth booking at the Bridge and will serve a one game suspension against Swansea. Albion are still short at full back given that Pulis seems to have discounted Brendan Galloway, so it would seem likely that Nyom will switch to the right side with Brunt, or perhaps even McClean, filling in at left back.
Prediction
Albion’s record against Swansea in the Premier League is less than impressive, having lost as many as they have won at the Hawthorns, but I expect the Baggies to take all three points this time around.
Stat Attack
Current Form
Albion | L | W | W | D | W | L |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Swansea City | L | L | D | W | L | W |
All competitions; most recent game on the right
Last matches
Last meeting
2 Feb 2016 – Premier League
West Brom 1 (Rondón)
Swansea City 1 (Sigurðsson)
Last win
11 Feb 2015 – Premier League
West Brom 2 (Ideye, Berahino)
Swansea City 0
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Albion’s Record against Swansea City
Overall | Home | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
P | W | D | L | F | A | P | W | D | L | F | A | ||
League | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 55 | 54 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 38 | 20 | |
FA Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
League Cup | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
Total | 37 | 13 | 8 | 16 | 59 | 58 | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 40 | 21 |
Premier League Record | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
Home | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
Away | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 3 |
Total | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 17 | 10 |