With the international break now behind us, the Sky Bet Championship returns on Friday evening and it does so with West Bromwich Albion looking to return to the top of the table when they welcome Birmingham City to The Hawthorns.
The Baggies know that a win will send them to the summit until Saturday when Bournemouth play their match in this round, while Birmingham will be looking to arrest a five-match winless streak which has seen them plummet down the table.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels. The build-up to the game begins at 7pm with kick off at The Hawthorns at 8pm.
West Bromwich Albion
It wasn’t always pretty to watch but West Brom started the season with a 10 game unbeaten run, a spell they saw come to an end last time out when they were beaten at their own game by Stoke City. The Baggies will now be looking to get back on track in a match they will be expected to win, but another game in which their physicality is likely to be closely matched so it will be interesting to see if they have learnt anything from the defeat at the Bet365 Stadium.
West Brom didn’t create much at Stoke that night and with Birmingham being a big side who should be able to hold their own at set plays, it will be interesting to see what the home side can come up with from open play. Their high press is relentless and can lead to mistakes but it can also leave them a little vulnerable which might be why they have only kept one clean sheet in their last four matches. You sense this is a match West Brom need to win having only won two of their last six.
Birmingham City
The season started off really well for Birmingham City when they suffered just one defeat in their opening six matches, and that to a Bournemouth side who might well go on and secure automatic promotion, however things have done a little sour between the two international breaks with the Blues not winning any of their last five matches and perhaps more worryingly not scoring in any of their last four outings.
That is something that is going to need to change going forward but it isn’t like they have been great at the other end either. They have shipped 12 goals in those five matches without a win and are beginning to look like the side many expected to struggle this term. The international break probably came at a good time for them but this is a stiff task coming out of it. They are capable of holding their own physically though which will give them a chance.
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Team News
West Brom could have defender Matt Clarke back on the pitch for this match after he recovered from injury and played a couple of u23 matches during the international break. Alex Mowatt is a doubt however.
Birmingham have a question mark over Ivan Sanchez for this encounter but boss Lee Bowyer has suggested he has a fresh squad to pick from with the exception of that. Troy Deeney could well start up front.
Betting
I don’t trust West Brom enough to back them at odds on and their home form does nothing to convince me that they are good things on a handicap either so I’m going to look at a different market for a bet. This is a match where I think both teams can score. That probably sounds silly when Birmingham City haven’t scored in any of their last four matches, but they have actually come out on top in the xG in three of those, two of those matches they lost 3-0!
That means that their issue isn’t creating chances, something manager Lee Bowyer alluded to in his press conference during the week, but more sticking them away. I always think that converting chances is a law of averages thing and they have to go in eventually. West Brom press high up the pitch and that will give them every chance of creating chances, but as Stoke showed before the international break, it can leave them there to be exposed so at a shade under evens I’m going to take both teams to score in this one.
Tips
Back Both teams to score for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Betfair
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