The Club:
West Brom will be looking for security in the Premier League this season after mixed fortunes last season. A change of manager and personnel changes still leaves a question mark over the ambitions of the Midlands club. They are on the fringe of relegation betting favouritism, helped only by the fact that the Premier League new boys Swansea, Norwich and QPR are favourites to take the drop. But with a tough start to the season and scrapping around for bargain transfers, there is an air of fragility about West Brom. West Brom Premier League betting should probably see more of a focus on the relegation battle they could face, as opposed to challenging for any spot in Europe.
Players/Manager:
As odds as this may sound, especially to Liverpool supporters, Roy Hodgson came in to save the day at the Hawthorns last season, after Roberto Di Matteo (now assistant manager at Chelsea) got the boot. Hodgson came under a lot of fire for the transfer deals which he did last summer ahead of Liverpool’s new season but that hasn’t stopped him getting busy in the summer for his new club. One of their prime targets has been Owen Hargreaves from Manchester United, which seems a huge risk to take for a side which is expected to be relegation threatened this season. West Brom need someone who can dig in week in and week out, not fragility in their squad. Hargreaves is on a free transfer, but do the Baggies want to get stuck with his wages? Even keeper Ben Foster highlighted the risk in a roundabout kind of way, saying that IF Hargreaves could turn out and play every Premier League game for West Brom, the Midlands club would have picked up a big bargain. Hargreaves of course made a good name for himself with England, before moving to Old Trafford, where his career has been limited by injury. Hargreaves has been posting YouTube videos of himself in training, to try and get clubs to notice him. On the more definite side of things, Hodgson has got captain Chris Brunt to sign a contract extension to keep him at the club, and have re-signed Zoltan Gera on a free transfer. Gera was out of contract with Fulham and returns to the club where he spent four years of his career playing. Gera won’t be available for the start of the season though, as he is nursing an ankle injury. The club also landed the services of keeper Ben Foster, who comes on a year long loan from relegation Birmingham City so that should solve a problem there. Foster has decided to retire from International duty to focus on his club career. There are strong rumours that West Brom may get a solid chance at landing impressive Reading striker Shane Long. After seeing striker Chris Wood move out on loan for a month. The Baggies may get keeper Marton Fulop and striker Ishmael Miller from Forest as well, but these transfers are just works in progress. West Brom are trying, trying to be frugal in getting solid pieces of the puzzle.
Last Season:
Could have been a lot worse for West Brom, who struggled to find form. Roberto Di Matteo go the boot and in came Roy Hodgson to save the day. That is all that happened though, saving the day, leading them up in to 11th place. Exactly what is going to transpire to make sure that the club are more than just surviving in the Premier League is a bit of a mystery. There does not seem to be a great deal of forward planning and optimism at the club right now. It all seems to be about maintaining what they have.
2011/12 West Bromwich Albion Premier League Betting Projection:
Well, can’t see West Brom getting out of the bottom half much this season. There is talk about them continuing slow progress and floating around mid table, but we don’t see it. Once again Hodgson is picking up scraps, focusing mainly on free transfers. Sadly West Brom need a little bit ore than that. The funny thing about them, is that they did show some progress under Roy Hodgson last year, but it always felt that it was happening on a very thin line of success and failure. They pulled themselves up to eleventh, when many had pencilled them in for a relegation scrap at one point, but you feel they only survived because teams beneath them were just worse. Don’t expect to see West Brom come racing out of the blocks, looking expansive and determined to progress too much on the football pitch. There is a bit of a feeling that West Brom, although they may not do too much wrong, will simply get passed because they are happy just toddling along at their own pace, doing nothing to concrete themselves as a top half of the table team, and probably doing just enough to stay clear of relegation. But there have been more positive moves which have been made by mid table teams from last season, which may ultimately leave the Baggies floundering. It is hard to see what direction they are really heading in, if one at all. Therefore we will probably be just about efficient enough to land in the upper half of the bottom half, but nothing more than that. They really need an injection of money and a bolder manager if they are going to press forward. Seeing them in a relegation scrap is more likely than seeing them challenging for a top six position, let’s put it that way. A tough opening two fixtures against Man Utd and Chelsea is unlikely to get them to a great start.
Finishing Position West Brom: Bottom Half of Table
Premier League Relegation Odds:
9/2 at William Hill
First Three Fixtures
August 14th: West Brom v Man Utd
August 20th: Chelsea v West Brom
August 27th: West Brom v Stoke
