STOKE CITY v WEST BROM
Saturday 23rd December 2017 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Football – England – Premier League Betting Tips
In context, this fixture is possibly one of the biggest games this weekend in the Premier League as 17th placed Stoke City take on second from bottom club, West Brom at the bet365 Stadium with a precious three points at stake for both clubs.
With a busy fixture schedule ahead of them, it’ll be vital for Stoke City to pick up as many points as possible in this clash as they travel to Huddersfield Town on Boxing Day and then a trip to Chelsea on New Years Day at Stamford Bridge.
Stoke have lost five of their last six overall in the Premier League, managing just the single win during this sequence which was a 2-1 home win over bottom club, Swansea City, but whilst Potters manager, Mark Hughes, stresses that this isn’t a ‘must win game’, it’s also a must not lose one against fellow relegation candidates West Brom.
Visitors West Brom just cannot score goals at the moment, and even when they do (as they did against Manchester United), they were still outscored by United in a 2-1 defeat at The Hawthorns which became their 16th game without a win in the top flight.
Indeed, you have to go way back to the start of this season in August where The Baggies recorded back-to-back wins over Bournemouth and Burnley respectively, but the wheels have fallen off in spectacular fashion since.
With an eight match run without a win on their travels, this has also become a must not lose fixture for the west midlands club who possess a poor away record of 1-3-5 4/10, which includes failing to score on five occasions.
Both of these clubs were formerly managed by Tony Pulis – I wonder if they’d wished they had held onto him now?
I can see both teams cancelling each other out here in either a 0-0 or 1-1 stalemate.
Pick: Draw @ 3.30 Betfair
