West Brom vs Swansea prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-08-11 14:00.
As a demonstration of the English FA’s new muscle-flexing rules in the Championship’s opening weekend, West Brom boss Carlos Corberán was banished from his post-match media duties after receiving a red card in their 2-1 defeat at Blackburn. Instead, newly-appointed captain Jed Wallace was left to call for calm after a day that won’t define their season “with more than 100 points left to play for”.
Breaking the 100-point barrier may be a little far-fetched given the seemingly perilous financial situation of the club, but the Baggies will be aiming for another crack at the play-offs after narrowly missing out by three points last time around. A home return will be welcomed after three straight competitive away defeats for West Brom, especially seeing as only Sunderland have got the better of them here since late October 2022 (W11, D3, L1).
Providing the opposition are Swansea, a side who have had something of an upheaval this summer with key players such as Ryan Manning and Olivier Ntcham leaving the club, and that’s not to mention Russell Martin’s managerial departure to Southampton. In any case, Michael Duff has enjoyed a fine start to life in South Wales with an opening day draw against Birmingham followed by EFL Cup progression with a 3-0 romp of Northampton.
That solid start follows the fine form which saw the Swans pick up a league-high 23 points across the final nine rounds of last season, perhaps inspiring hopes of a play-off push this time around. Continuing with a fifth consecutive unbeaten away game will be easier said than done here, as whilst Swansea triumphed in each of their last two visits to West Brom, they’ve never won three in a row since their very first trip to The Hawthorns back in 1927.
Players to watch: West Brom’s Matt Phillips has contributed to four goals across his six personal meetings with Swansea (G1, A3) and could be set to build upon that after scoring his side’s only goal in the league opener. As for Swansea, new boy Jerry Yates made the most of his debut by scoring their only goal in round one which means he’s only failed to score in one of his last seven Championship appearances!
Hot stat: All but one of WBA’s last ten competitive matches produced at least one goal in each half.