Football – England – Premier League
Wednesday 11th February 2015 – Kickoff: 2000hrs
There’s no doubt that incoming manager Tony Pulis has shored things up at The Hawthorns since his arrival in early January as he’s guided West Brom to five points from the four league matches since taking charge.
In the scheme of things, this is a massive improvement from the five points they gained from the ten matches prior to his arrival, but they still have work to do to avoid being involved in a relegation dog-fight at the end of the season.
The Baggies currently sit in 16th place two positions but just one point above their west midlands rivals Aston Villa who themselves have dropped into the bottom three. But with just one defeat from their last five matches in the Premier League with a win over Hull City and draws against West Ham, Everton and Burnley, they’ll fancy their chances of at least a point against Swansea here tonight.
West Brom’s overall home record stands at 3-3-6 14/19.
Swansea City have held onto their top half position in the Premier League despite just one win from their last six matches overall. This win came in a slightly unexpected 1-0 victory away at Southampton, but despite this recent success, I still can’t consider Swansea City as nailed-on favourites for this match, nor are they priced as such.
Heavy defeats to Liverpool and Chelsea suggest that Swansea are probably placed in the ‘second tier’ of the Premier League which is no mean feat for a side that not so long ago were facing expulsion and indeed liquidation from the football league.
Swansea’s recent away results have been mixed to say the least with defeats at West Ham and Liverpool 3-1 and 4-1 respectively, along with a draw at QPR and a win at Southampton. The difference here tonight is that they face a West Brom side who pose a lesser attacking threat than both West Ham and Liverpool, and I reckon they too fancy their chances of getting something here tonight.
The defences could come out on top in this clash then with Baggies manager Pulis keen to reduce the flow of goals that had previously been a regular occurrence at The Hawthorns, while Swansea are solid away at bottom half opposition. This could end up a low-scoring affair, perhaps a 1-0 margin either way.
Pick: Under 2.5 goals @ 1.65 Ladbrokes
