Will West Brom stay in the top flight?
The English Championship doesn’t take a break and the ball is rolling again in Cardiff during the week! The visitors are West Brom, a team who fancy their chances of promotion to the Premier League and have performed accordingly in many games so far.
But a game at the Welsh is always tricky. Therefore, before the match Cardiff vs West Brom, the odds indicate a favourite role for the visitors, but this is not too clear. Resistance is to be expected in any case
Cardiff City are currently stuck in mid-table and got a thrashing at Blackburn at the weekend. So for the hosts, it’s also about making amends. Kick-off is at 20:45 on Tuesday evening.
Cardiff – Statistics & current form
Cardiff lost 5-1 at Blackburn at the weekend. That is anything but a good starting position for the game against a strong West Brom. However, it can also be argued that it’s good to have another game coming up so soon. The season so far has been solid, with the club from Wales currently in 13th place in the Championship table with eleven points.
That is at least roughly in line with expectations. Cardiff definitely saw itself in the safe midfield. After a very good start to the season, however, the trend is clearly downwards. Three points from the last six games speak a clear language, the host even lost five of these six games So a turnaround is needed if the team is not to head quickly towards the relegation zone.
However, Cardiff have not performed too well at home so far. The team celebrated one of the three victories at home this season, and something has to change here. The five goals conceded at the weekend don’t speak well for the defence, even though it has been very solid, conceding nine goals in eight games so far.
Cardiff need to make a change
There must be approaches to change something. Because apart from the weak defence, the offence was not convincing either, with only one goal in the last three games. The fact that the odds of the best bookmakers do not show a clear tendency before the match Cardiff vs. West Brom speaks for the quality that the hosts have at least potentially at their disposal.
The team’s coach, however, is the rather conservative Mick McCarthy. Whether great tactical innovations can be expected from him is at least doubtful. But something has to happen, because the team has not felt too comfortable on the field lately.
It is significant that Aiden Flint, as a centre-back, is by far the best marksman in his team. So standards play a significant role for Cardiff and that should be the case again in this match. After the debacle at the weekend, a certain rotation is possible, also to ensure more compactness. That’s why, ahead of the Cardiff vs West Brom game, our prediction is that less than 2.5 goals will be scored
Predicted Cardiff line-up:
Smithies – Morrison, Flint, Nelson – Ng, Bacuna, Vaulks, Pack, Giles – Moore, Harris
Last matches played by Cardiff:
West Brom – Statistics & current form
West Bromwich Albion are playing a good 2021/22 season so far, if you ignore the 0:6 in the League Cup against Arsenal. In the Championship, WBA is still completely unbeaten and is in second place after nine games played. That’s a good feeling and shows that the team is not only ambitious, but also has the right ambitions.
So the role of favourites for the visitors is no coincidence. West Brom are doing very well offensively, scoring twice or more in five games. And the defence is also solid, as the visitors have conceded only four goals in the last seven league games. The same number were scored in the first two matchdays.
With Cardiff, Stoke, Birmingham and Swansea, the next opponents are also very well distributed and altogether quite feasible. The programme means well for West Brom, so the team of coach Valerien Ismael, who is known from the Bundesliga, can establish themselves at the top if everything goes according to plan.
Can West Brom get back to winning ways?
But it was noticeable in the last few games that the team didn’t show the top form they did at the start of the season. Yes, West Brom remained unbeaten, but three of the last four games in the Championship ended in draws. This also means that their position in the table is no longer quite as lucrative as it was before this stage of the season.
Furthermore, there is a bit of a hitch in the offensive. Only four goals resulted from these four games. So the Ismael eleven is not really delivering the big spectacle at the moment. Compactness, prudent attacks forward and a great discipline in working against the ball are the hallmarks of West Brom.
It is quite possible that it will be enough for the next victory against a struggling opponent. Therefore, before the match Cardiff vs West Brom, our value tip is also that the visitors will win the match
Predicted West Brom line-up:
Johnstone – Townsend, Bryan, Ajayi – Furlong, Molumby, Livermore, Reach – Snodgrass, Grant, Phillips
Last matches played by West Brom:
Cardiff – West Brom Direct Comparison / H2H Record
The direct comparison between the two teams is relatively even. So far, Cardiff have won 18 matches, 15 matches have ended in a draw and 23 matches have been won by West Brom. The last time the two met was in the 2019/20 season, when there were two home wins. West Brom won 4-2 at the time, Cardiff 2-1.
Cardiff – West Brom Tip
Both teams have quality, but the visitors West Brom have advantages on their side. The start of the season was good and the defence showed very good performances recently. However, it is difficult for the visitors to go forward at the moment, which was better at the beginning of the season.
The favourites are West Brom, but with a compact approach and an improvement in performance, Cardiff can surely take something away with them if everything goes well. Anyway, ahead of the Cardiff vs West Brom match, our overall tip is that less than 2.5 goals will fall.
