West Brom vs Stoke prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-12-16 12:00.
West Brom boss Carlos Corberán may well have been right in saying that their midweek victory at Rotherham wasn’t “a magic attacking performance”, but the 2-0 win followed back-to-back defeats and was enough to extend the Baggies’ recent record to six wins in nine (L3). Maintaining a spot in the Championship play-offs ahead of match round 22, it should come as no surprise that both Albion goals came after the break in South Yorkshire, with Corberán’s men joint-second in terms of best-performing second half teams in the division.
The Baggies too are amongst the league’s elite when it comes to playing on their own patch, though they were beaten last time out at The Hawthorns by title-chasing Leicester. West Brom haven’t lost successive league games at home since October 2022 though, and will fancy their chances of extending that record on Sunday against Stoke, who have lost seven of their last 11 league away games (W2, D2).
Following his departure, Stoke began life without former manager Alex Neil in midweek with a draw at home to Swansea. They were frustratingly denied all three points by a late leveller, the tenth league goal they’ve conceded after the 75th minute this season. Nonetheless, caretaker manager Paul Gallagher deemed it “a point in the right direction” after it ended a run of four defeats on the spin.
As a player, former Scotland international Gallagher never beat Sunday’s opponents West Brom in six attempts (D2, L4), and he now heads up a Potters team that were beaten 2-0 at The Hawthorns last season. Not since 2017 have Stoke lost consecutive league visits to Albion, but if that does happen here, City could be ending the weekend deeper in the relegation battle.
Key battle: Baggies midfielder Jayson Molumby has netted more goals against Stoke (two) than any other opponent in his career to date, with both of those coming in April’s 2-1 win in the Potteries. He'll be trying to beat Stoke goalkeeper Jack Bonham, who hasn’t kept a clean sheet in three meetings with West Brom, conceding exactly twice in both H2Hs last season.
Hot streak: None of the last nine league H2H meetings ended in a draw, with West Brom winning five and Stoke four.