Baggies clear favourites against visitors with poor form

While the English Premier League only resumes on Saturday, the first league match takes place on Friday. In the Championship, the twelfth matchday – of 46 – is on the agenda and will be opened by a relegated team. West Brom and Birmingham face each other at “The Hawthorns” stadium

The home side can confirm their ambitions of a direct Premier League return so far. A home win would see head coach Valerien Ismael’s side leapfrog AFC Bournemouth into first place, at least temporarily. The visitors from Birmingham started the season in an absolutely satisfactory manner, but in the last few weeks nothing has gone right. Accordingly, the starting situation is also clear and the bookmakers offer betting odds of around 1.60 for a home victory for West Brom against Birmingham.

There are arguments that point to a home win in this duel. For not only the momentum, but also the home strength, the strong offence and the basic quality in the squad are other aspects that make the home side look like clear favourites. The match kicks off on Friday evening at 20:45.

West Brom – Statistics & current form

Between matchday three and seven, West Bromwich Albion stood above the ominous line last season, otherwise the club was always at home in the relegation zone. Accordingly, plans for another Championship season could be made at an early stage. After “Big Sam” Sam Allardyce failed to achieve the miracle of staying in the relegation zone, a completely different type of coach was installed in the form of ex-German legionnaire Valerien Ismael.

Playing football instead of fighting football

Also because of the underdog role, the Thrushes – The Baggies – were not a team that convinced on a playing level last season. Sam Allardyce is also regarded as a coach of the “old school” and kick-and-rush is more the order of the day than cultivated combination football. The Frenchman Ismael, on the other hand, has a completely different idea of football. The cornerstones of the new Baggies football are attacking pressing, standing tall, putting the opponent in stress situations and, ideally, playing fast vertical play after winning the ball.

Such a fundamental change is not always easy, but the team was able to internalise the new philosophy quickly. In the first ten league games, there was no defeat, just before the second international break, the Ismael eleven had to cope with the Potters of Stoke City with 0:1 the first defeat. As a result, Ismael’s eleven lost the lead in the table and had to let the Cherries go.

No home defeat

Noting that only one game was lost and the last one was an away game, this means that West Brom have scored in all five of their home games so far this season. This statistic also favours betting on a home win between West Brom and Birmingham.

With 20 goals already scored, the promotion aspirants have the third best attack in the league. 20 goals in eleven games is not an outstanding figure at first glance, but anyone who knows a little about the Championship knows that very few goals are often scored in this league due to the enormous intensity (almost exclusively English weeks) and the combative football.

Another interesting betting option is that more goals will be scored in the second half. In the first 45 minutes, there have been eleven goals in matches involving WBA so far (an average of 1.00 goals per match), but in the second half there have already been 18 goals. Accordingly, one of our three recommended top tips is Betway’s 2 odds for more goals in the second half.

Predicted West Brom line-up:
Johnstone – Ajayi, Bartley, Townsend – Reach, Livermore, Mowatt, Furlong – Grant, Hugill, Robinson

Last matches played by West Brom:

Birmingham – Statistics & current form

Birmingham’s development in recent years is somewhat symptomatic. After their Premier League relegation in 2010/11, they narrowly missed out on a direct return the following year. This failure was far more drastic than the relegation. The big bloodletting followed, and since then Aston Villa’s local rivals have been nothing more than a mediocre second division team. In recent years, the issue of relegation has been ever-present, with Birmingham hovering between 17th and 20th in the final table since the 2016/17 season.

Birmingham in free fall

In March this year, Lee Bowyer was introduced as the new head coach. The long-time Leeds professional created a real euphoria with furious performances. The strong form was also carried into the new season and Birmingham were able to stay within striking distance of the play-off places after seven match days. But since the 2-0 win against head coach Wayne Rooney’s crisis-ridden Derby County (10 September), nothing has come together.

In the last five league games, they have only managed to pick up a single point against Preston North End. Just how dramatic the current situation is for Bowyer’s side is shown by the fact that they have not scored a single goal in their last four league games. Now Birmingham are away to a promotion contender who also have the second best defence in the league (nine goals conceded). The prospects of a surprise are not given in view of these numbers.

Half of all goals scored this season have come against Luton

In view of the bare figures, at least the role as guest could be positively highlighted, after all, the Bowyer eleven celebrated two of the season’s three victories away from home. A true gala performance was the success against Luton Town. On the fourth matchday, Birmingham celebrated a 5-0 victory. But that was also a bit of a waste of powder, because those five goals in 90 minutes actually represent half of all the goals scored this season.

Predicted Birmingham line-up:
Sarkic – Roberts, Dean, Pedersen – Bela, Woods, Chong, Sunjic, Colin – Hogan, Jutkiewicz

Last Birmingham games:

West Brom – Birmingham Direct comparison / H2H balance

With well over 100 times the two clubs have faced each other, but in the recent past only the games from the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons are really relevant. None of these four games could be won by Birmingham, the Baggies celebrated two victories, the two remaining games ended with a draw. In three of the four games between West Brom and Birmingham, bets on both teams to score were crowned with success. On Friday evening, bookmaker Bet365 is offering odds of 1.83 on this match.

West Brom – Birmingham bet

Though both teams lost before the international break, the form before the direct clash speaks for itself in favour of the home side. With West Brom against Birmingham, betting on the favourites is obvious.

With Valerien Ismael’s philosophy on the game, betting on the handicap is a good option for West Brom against Birmingham to kick off matchday twelve in the Championship. There is certainly some risk involved, but quality, home strength and form are arguments in favour of this prediction. A moderate stake of five units is used for this purpose.