On Monday Sunderland will host West Brom at the Stadium of Light. The meeting will be the 157th meeting between the clubs. Here’s how I think we will do…
WEST BROM
It hasn’t been a great season so far for the Baggies, a 0-0 draw to Luton Town being the nail in Steve Bruce’s coffin back in October. West Brom had only picked up 11 points from 13 games under the ex-Sunderland gaffer. However, his replacement Carlos Corberan seems to have the Baggies moving in the right direction. Three wins in a row finally pulled West Brom out of the relegation zone and restored belief at the Hawthorns.
Under Corberan, West Brom have stuck with the 4-2-3-1 formation that they have been playing all season and they have recorded an average possession stat of 57.8%, which is very high for a team just outside the relegation zone. Some may argue that West Brom are in a false position, with many people tipping them for a top six finish at the start of the season. Karlan Grant is currently their top goal scorer, with the former Huddersfield man scoring 4 goals in 19 appearances.
As a whole West Brom are an underachieving side with their fair share of quality. I wouldn’t be surprised if they finished a lot higher than where they currently are.
SUNDERLAND
Things have been going really well for Sunderland over these last few weeks, with a 3-0 win against Millwall finally putting an end to the "no back-to-back wins" hoodoo. Tony Mowbray has confirmed that Ross Stewart will be available for the game, with a spot on the bench now looking likely. Not to mention Amad Diallo is in red hot form, with the Ivorian scoring three goals in his last five games.
Tony Mowbray guided the Baggies to Premier League promotion in 2008, so he has some fond memories with the club. When asked about his former club he had this to say “It’s a wonderful place, it’s a wonderful football environment and I always look for their results”. This shows that Mowbray has no bad feelings towards the opposition. If the Lads get the three points they could move into a play-off spot.
MY PREDICTION
So, my prediction for this game is an entertaining 1-1 draw. Both sides are in good form and I am expecting to see a really good footballing display. I think West Brom will get the better of the first half, Jed Wallace will put them 1-0 up going into half time. Sunderland will then get the better of the second half, Amad Diallo will find an equaliser and the game will finish 1-1. Maybe we can capitalise on having an extra 90 minutes in the tank and get the win, but I'm going to play it safe and predict a 1-1 draw.
My Predicted Sunderland 11 (4-2-3-1)
1 Anthony Patterson, 11 Lynden Gooch, 13 Luke O’Nien, 6 Danny Batth, 42 Aji Alese, 4 Corry Evans, 24 Dan Neil, 16 Amad Diallo, 21 Alex Pritchard, 20 Jack Clarke, 9 Ellis Simms
My Predicted West Brom 11 (4-2-3-1)
24 Alex Palmer, 5 Kyle Bartley, 2 Darnell Furlong, 4 Dara O’Shea, 3 Conor Townsend, 35 Okay Yokuslu, 14 Jayson Molumby, 19 John Swift, 17 Jed Wallace, 10 Matthew Phillips, 21 Brandon Thomas-Asante
