West Brom v Sunderland

West Bromwich Albion are attempting to cling on to the last play-off spot for dear life, with Middlesbrough and Bristol City level on points but below them due to inferior goal differences.

Sunderland are pretty much guaranteed the play-offs, fifteen points clear of 7th spot. They’re now unlikely to be able to break into the automatic spots unless two of the three teams competing at the top go wildly off the boil.

⭐ West Brom v Sunderland Best Bet

The way we see this game is that one team should in theory have much more desire to win it than the other, and that is the home side West Brom, who are desperately in need of the points, whilst Sunderland we think have their fate sealed regardless of whether they pick up another point or not.

The pressure could of course work against West Brom, who have failed to win their last three games. However, we can also factor in the Mowbray element here, perhaps with a bee in his bonnet after being rather harshly removed as Black Cats manager last season.

Sunderland are in a mode where there primary focus should be keeping players fit and ready ahead of the play-offs, where they have shown on their day they are a match for most of the top sides in the division.

👕 West Brom v Sunderland Predicted XI

🔍 West Brom v Sunderland Players to Watch

🔵 Adam Armstrong

Adam Armstrong joined West Brom in January to team up with his former boss at Blackburn, Tony Mowbray. 

The diminutive striker scored 21 goals for Southampton last term as they won promotion via the play-offs, including the crucial goal at Wembley against Leeds, and Mowbray will be hoping to draw on his play-off experience should The Baggies make it that far. 

Armstrong has started nine games since joining, scoring twice. He has also been on penalty duty for West Brom. His price to score anytime at 3.10 looks about right.

🔴 Jobe Bellingham

This has been a winner for us in previous away games for Sunderland this season, so it’s hard to ignore when you’re getting a value price.

Bellingham has picked up ten yellow cards and one red this season. Nine out of 11 cards have been picked up away from home in 17 games. The mathematicians amongst you will have worked out that those stats equate to a strike rate of 53%. Bellingham is priced at 3/1 for a card here, so a 25% chance, which cannot be correct.

We have a couple of added factors, as Birmingham boy Jobe comes up against a Blues rival in West Brom, and therefore likely to face some stick from the crowd. Also Jayson Molumby, a potential midfield opponent, has drawn nine cards from the opposition this season.

📂 West Brom v Sunderland Cheat Sheet

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💻 West Brom v Sunderland Form and Tactics

Blackburn’s results have been terrible of late. They have suffered four defeats in a row and scored only three goals in Valerien Ismael’s five matches in charge.

Whilst Ismael hasn’t changed the fundamental 4-2-3Tony Mowbray has overseen a mixed bag in terms of results since his return to West Brom in January. In 13 games, his record is: W4 D5 L4. All four wins have come at the Hawthorns, all against teams currently 12th or lower in the table.

The Baggies are strong defensively, having conceded less than a goal per game this season, but has increased slightly under Mowbray where they’ve conceded 14 in 13 games. They struggle to create ‘big chances’, only ranked 18th in The Championship for creating those.

Sunderland, as touched upon, are in limbo a little bit between now and the end of the season, pretty much guaranteed to finish 4th barring a disaster or a miracle. Every game they have to take part in between now and then is just a potential game for a key player to pick up an injury.

Their results have still been pretty good, with three wins in their last five, but a little bit of zip does seem to have gone from their early season performances, perhaps understandably. They have used the same core of players for the majority of the season, a lot of them young.

🏁 West Brom v Sunderland Ref Watch

• Referee - Tom Nield

• Nield has taken charge of 18 games in the Championship this season.

• He shows 4.1 yellow cards per game and has shown 1 red card this season.

• He has refereed WBA twice this season, showing three cards on each occasion, one a red to Kyle Bartley.

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* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.

* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.