West Bromwich Albion vs Burnley. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats and more
West Bromwich will host Burnley in the EFL Championship eight-tour match at the Hawthorns Stadium. The fixture will take place on September 3, beginning at 00:30 IST.
It’s been quite a busy week in England. While the midweek round of the English Premier League concludes today, the 8th tour of the Championship will begin the very next day. That will include a duel between West Bromwich and Burnley. Both the Throstles and the Clarets are considered candidates for the promotion. but at the moment the teams’ form and quality of play are in stark contrast.
Parimatchnews will tell you everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming match.
West Bromwich News & Current Form:
Last season, the Baggies were hoping for another promotion to the EPL – but in the end, even with the coaching reshuffle and the appointment of Steve Bruce, they only managed to finish in the bottom ten of the final table.
Now the Whites and Blues want to try again, although the resources of the 61-year-old specialist are really limited now. The squad has been ‘impoverished’ rather than improved for the second year in a row. This is reflected in the results, with just 1 win in 8 games. The rest are draws (5) with a minimal score.
A vivid example is Sam Johnstone, an England national team level player who has departed for free. Firstly, as one of the team’s main stars, the goalkeeper rescued a lot of points for his club last season. Now the contrast is clearly visible, the Baggies started to concede a lot – 9 goals, the figure which is typical of the clubs from the bottom of the table. Secondly, when the most valuable players of the club leave for free it is always a tragedy for teams of this size, after all every penny counts.
On top of that, there is no money to be made from the other transfers either. Thus, the Albion has nowhere to find money for top-quality reinforcements – this is not an EPL club, where the owners of the club can easily help by injecting a certain amount of funds if needed.
Nevertheless, the West Brom’s squad cannot be called bad (4th most expensive in Championship). They managed to find a solution and sign quality players for free: John Swift (transfer value €7.00m), Jed Wallace (MV – €6.50m) and the experienced Okay Yokuslu (MV – €3.00m) have all arrived this summer.
And it must be admitted, the transfer campaign so far looks successful as right-winger Wallace has already 2 goals + 1 assist to his account. The same goes for another newcomer, center midfielder Swift.
The attacking performance so far has covered up a lackluster defensive stats (goal difference +2). However, if the Baggies want more – they need to build stability in this third of the pitch.
What is frustrating is Daryl Dike, one of the most expensive transfers in recent years. The striker bought for €8.63m still can not meet the expectations and at least get into the starting lineup. The main culprit is his hamstring Injury that cost him 52 days of absence last season and has kept him out of form since then. The management decided to buy an additional forward on Transfer Deadline Day – Brandon Thomas-Asante from League Two’s Salford – just to be sure the gaffer have more options during the season.
For their next game, the Throstles appear to be the underdogs. Not only is there enormous skepticism surrounding Steve Bruce, who risks losing his place if he does not start to show results, but the problem area will not be fixed anytime soon – the most expensive defender in the team, Semi Ajayi, will be absent, perhaps for the long term. The head coach is pessimistic about the knee and ankle injuries suffered by his player in the recent game against Wigan. Darnell Furlong should return to the right-back position, Dara O’Shea will move inside and Jake Livermore is likely to earn a challenge in midfield.
Burnley News & Current Form:
A new rebuilding project seems to be gaining grounds for success. After Sean Dyche’s long tenure at the helm and an unsuccessful attempt to turn things around quickly last season when everything went wrong, the club have set a course towards more attacking football with a focus on youth development. In order to do so, they have invited Vincent Kompany to try his abilities, the so-called “purification by Championship” may give birth to perhaps a completely different team, which will return to the Elite stronger.
The Clarets lost a lot of key players before the start of the season – from Nick Pope to Maxwel Cornet. Such losses of well-integrated players are very difficult to recoup, hence the consequent poor start to the season. After a victory in the oppening round over Huddersfield, they have failed to produce a positive result in four consecutive games (three draws and a defeat to Watford). Only on 27 August they managed to finally find their winning ways and thras Wigan Athletic 5-1 by. Building on the success, it was possible to register a 2-0 home win against Millwall.
Despite being 3rd in the table, the Belgian believes his Clarets team could be in a better position at this stage. And he has every reason to think so: the attractive play shows that Burnley’s potential is great. They are confident on the ball with a possession 68.1% of the time on average (1st in the league). They build beautiful combinations through multi-pass positional attacks and shoot a lot – 37 shots on goal (2nd). Thanks to potent attacking efforts it was possible to net 13 goals (2nd in the league). Quite an interesting metamorphosis, now a stiff defensive club in the past, seems to be gaining a new identity. Virtually every game now sees over 500 passes made, these are the numbers of modern clubs that want to play up-to-date eye-catching football.
Goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell is expected to be in the visitors’ starting line-up as Arijanet Muric has injured his shoulder. Nathan Tella, should find optimum form despite sustaining a bruise in the same game, while Manuel Benson will be an alternative to Johann Berg Gudmundsson on the right wing. Ian Maatsen is available again after serving a three-match suspension for suspension.
The Clarets approach the match feeling confident and expect to pick up their third win in a row. Burnley are looking to get a straight shot at the Premiership.
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West Bromwich form guide (all comp.): L-D-W-L-D-D
Burnley form guide (all comp.): L-D-D-W-W-W
West Bromwich vs Burnley Head-To-Head Record:
| West Bromwich | Draw | Burnley |
| 56 | 31 | 46 |
- 21 Nov 2016, West Bromwich Albion v Burnley – 4 : 0;
- 06 May 2017, Burnley v West Bromwich Albion – 2 : 2;
- 19 Aug 2017, Burnley v West Bromwich Albion – 0 : 1;
- 31 Mar 2018, West Bromwich Albion v Burnley – 1 : 2;
- 19 Oct 2020, West Bromwich Albion v Burnley – 0 : 0;
- 20 Feb 2021, Burnley v West Bromwich Albion – 0 : 0.
West Bromwich vs Burnley Predicted XI:
West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Button; O’Shea, Ajayi, Bartley, Townsend; Yokuslu, Livermore; Wallace, Swift, Diangana; Grant.
Burnley possible starting lineup (4-3-3): Peacock-Farrell; Roberts, Harwood-Bellis, Taylor, Vitinho; Brownhill, Cork, Cullen; Gudmundsson, Rodriguez, Tella.
Statistical preview of the match West Bromwich vs Burnley:
- Burnley have conceded in 8 of the last 9 Championship away games.
- Burnley have scored in 8 of the last 9 Championship away games.
- West Brom have scored in each of their last 12 Championship home games against Burnley.
- West Bromwich Albion have not lost in each of their last 6 Championship home games against Burnley.
- Burnley have scored less than 1.5 goals in 5 of the last 6 away games.
- Burnley have lost in each of their last 4 Championship away games against West Bromwich Albion.
What has been said before the match:
Steve Bruce, the West Brom Gaffer:
“In the Championship you have to try and find a way of breaking solid teams down. I’m confident that we’ll win matches regularly. We’re close, but we’ve got to stop making silly mistakes and we’ve got to find that cutting edge.”
“We can’t keep coming from behind every week. It’s bizarre and it usually involves a mistake. We keep on giving ourselves a mountain to climb. We can’t just keep gifting teams goals. No matter how much we talk about it, it’s a reoccurring problem at the moment. We have to improve and stop giving ourselves so much to do in games.”
Vincent Kompany, the Burnley gaffer:
“I think the season so far has been kind of what everyone predicted. It’s been tight, nobody has run off yet. I don’t think it’s clear yet who are going to be at the top or bottom, that’s how close it is. Norwich and West Brom are goal threats, they are both big games. We’ll need to be ready to go and give it a real good go.”
“West Brom create a lot of chances, they are willing to put the ball into the box, they’ve got numbers in there. They like many teams, are trying to edge towards everything clicking.”
“I knew I wanted to have legs and energy in this team. That’s what I knew. What they’ve done on the ball, we worked towards it, but I didn’t expect it to be consistent so soon. That was true in the last game, but we need to do it at West Brom too.”
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West Bromwich vs Burnley Prediction:
We shouldn’t underestimate West Bromwich in the upcoming encounter, even though they can’t often achieve wins, they can still snatch points from any team, especially in front of the home stands. Let’s not forget their 7-match unbeaten streak at the Hawthorns.
Burnley, in turn, use a lot of manpower up front when attacking, possessing the ball for two-thirds of the game. This style of play leaves the back line wide open and the Baggies will be looking to take advantage of it, with a lucky interception and a quick cross forward – there’s plenty of players to run away and score. And the statistical trends tell us that the Clarets concede often – in 5 of their last 8 matches in all competitions.
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Parimatch News staff prediction:
We say: Burnley will not lose and both teams to score – Yes.