The Baggies take the short trip on Saturday up the M6 to the Bet365 Stadium to take on Stoke City in the Sky Bet Championship.
Last time out, we drew 0-0 to last season’s beaten play off finalists Leeds United at The Hawthorns where we have took 4 points in our first 2 games with Stoke City our third game of the season where they were beaten by Watford last weekend 3-0. I expect this game to be a close encounter it isn’t easy going to Stoke but we are unbeaten there in our last two visits to the Bet365 Stadium.
Both fixtures ended level last term, with the two sides drawing 1-1 at The Hawthorns in December and 2-2 up at Stoke in April.
Player To Watch – Stoke City
Ben Wilmot is going to be my player to watch for Stoke City on Saturday, as he is one of the best defenders in the league, I think he would stop our chances at the Bet365 this weekend. He did suffer a injury when he faced us a couple of seasons back but I think this season he be one of the key defenders for Stoke.
At 24 he has had Premier League experience at Watford and has played for the England Under 21’s if he keeps his form for this game he could be one of those players to help Stoke get a result we all don’t want come Saturday afternoon.
Player To Watch – West Brom
Lewis Dobbin would be my player to watch as I would give him his first league start against Stoke City. With us being successful with signing wingers on loan over the years such as Harvey Barnes, Matheus Pereira and Mikey Johnston last season, I think Lewis Dobbin could be another name on the list especially he signed for Aston Villa this summer.
He would cause problems to Stoke’s defence on Saturday and I think he could be a perfect replacement for Mikey Johnston and while his still young at 21 I say he would score against Stoke and hopefully could secure a result come full time.
My Line Up V Stoke
My line up against Stoke is where I make a number of changes where I would start Lewis Dobbin and Jed Wallace and replace them with Karlan Grant and Tom Fellows as I feel there could be a refresh for the wingers. I play Josh Maja as lone striker behind John Swift and start the same back seven as last time out against Leeds United.
Prediction V Stoke
Here is my prediction against Stoke City, it be a tough game as every away game we come to is difficult for us to get a result expect for QPR on the opening day where we came away with 3 points that I didn’t expect even at the start of the day.
I say it be scrappy like it was against Leeds with enough chances for both sides the first half there wouldn’t be much chances from both sides and it be another difficult game to overcome. I say it be 0-0 at half time, and in the second half we would make a few changes and somehow try and get into the game.
I think come the 80th minute, Lewis Dobbin would finally break the deadlock with us going ahead with 10 minutes to go and near the end of the game we would get a penalty with Karlan Grant scoring from the spot to win us the game and get us a victory at the Bet365 Stadium.
I’m going for two late Baggies goals and it be enough to see off Stoke on Saturday but it be a scrappy tie. I think most would take a win or even a draw especially coming to Stoke but I would think we would win the game and be a great bank holiday weekend if we can actually do it!
Come on you Baggies!
Prediction: Stoke City 0-2 West Brom
Goalscorers: Lewis Dobbin, Karlan Grant (Pen)
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