West Brom vs Sunderland Prediction: Baggies to keep Black Cats at bay

West Bromwich Albion are now near-certainties to finish in the play-offs, after their 2-0 win over Rotherham United in midweek put them nine points ahead of seventh-placed Coventry. The Sky Blues have a game in hand, but even so, it’s now looking incredibly unlikely that WBA will slip up. 

They’ve also got a four-point advantage over Norwich in sixth, and will want to secure fifth spot to set up a likely play-off semi-final against Southampton next month. Next up, they host Sunderland, a side who will be glad to see the back of this season after a hectic year of managerial chaos.

Here’s my West Brom vs Sunderland prediction, with a couple of betting tips for you to consider ahead of kick-off. 

Team News

Daryl Dike and Jayson Molumby are out for the season but Josh Maja is nearing a return. The last time he played for WBA was against Sunderland in December and he will provide a major boost to Carlos Corberan for the run-in. His preferred front four of Mickey Johnston, Tom Fellows, John Swift and Brandon Thomas-Asante should all start this one. 

For Sunderland, Dennis Cirkin remains out while Nazariy Rusyn is also set to miss this game. Correy Evans has suffered a set-back in his recovery from an ACL injury while Elliot Embleton is getting closer to a return but won’t feature here. Goalkeeper Anthony Patterson will be looking to make it three clean sheet on the bounce. 

Match Odds

West Brom are priced at 4/5, which gives them an implied win probability of 55%. Meanwhile, the away side are priced at 7/2 to take all three points, with a draw available at 13/5. If you fancy goals, BTTS is 10/11 and over 2.5 goals is EVS. 

West Brom to win to nil @ 9/5

I like this West Brom team a lot. They are defensively sound, and have the ability in attacking areas to tear teams apart. I think they should be able to beat this Sunderland team, and they should do so without conceding. They have the fifth-best home record in the Championship, and have only lost three matches at the Hawthorns. 

Importantly, they’ve also only conceded 16 goals in 21 league matches at home, a record only Leeds and Leicester can better. Meanwhile, Sunderland have drawn their last two matches 0-0, and they’ve only scored three goals in their last five outings. They don’t seem to be able to sustain dangerous attacks and I think WBA should shut them out. 

Brandon Thomas-Asante to score anytime @ 9/5

Let’s back a goalscorer for West Brom. I like the look of their attack and the creative trio behind Thomas-Asante are incredibly dangerous. They are also providing the striker with a number of chances per game, and he now has 11 league goals to his name this season. 

Interestingly, he seems to have relished the goalscoring responsibility since returning from injury. With Maja and Dike out injured, he’s become the obvious choice to start games and now has two goals in his past three games. I’m backing Thomas-Asante to find the net against the Black Cats. 

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