West Brom vs Luton prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2022-10-07 14:00.
Pressure is mounting on West Brom manager Steve Bruce after his side fell to a 1-0 defeat away to Preston in midweek. The Lancashire side had scored just once in six home games before the Baggies’ visit, making it an embarrassing defeat that leaves Bruce with just eight wins from his 31 matches (D11, L12) in charge since joining the club back in February.
The veteran manager has tried to put on a brave face, stating after his side’s latest set-back that "I've been here many times, you have to draw on a bit of experience and a bit of resilience”. West Brom have shown very little of the latter though, conceding first in a joint-league high nine matches this season and keeping just one clean sheet, which consequently means only two Championship sides have conceded more league goals than West Brom’s 18 ahead of the round.
Luton Town will travel to the Hawthorns in a brighter mood than their hosts having remained undefeated across their last four league games (W2, D2). Manager Nathan Jones labelled his side “magnificent” following their 3-3 draw at home to Huddersfield in midweek, although he was left frustrated by their inability to competently defend set-pieces, which could be a narrative here given a third (four) of West Brom’s league goals have come from dead-ball situations so far.
Jones’ men made it three successive league away wins in their last road trip (2-0 vs Hull), which is something Luton had not previously managed since September 2020. The Hatters scored exactly two goals in each, which could be an intriguing trend that perhaps looks set to continue since they also scored exactly twice in both H2H meetings last season (W1, L1).
Players to watch: West Brom’s Grady Diangana, who scored in their most recent home game, often proves a tricky customer for his opponents, highlighted by the fact he was the joint-most fouled player going into the round (30). Elijah Adebayo scored a brace for Luton in midweek, but in doing so made it a run of three draws from his last three goalscoring appearances.
Hot stat: Luton have scored 69% (11) of their goals in the first half and have opened the scoring in four of their five away league matches.