West Brom vs Stoke City Prediction: Stalemate at The Hawthorns

Still seeking a successor to Carlos Corberan, who left for Valencia almost a month ago, West Bromwich Albion are still plodding along with Chris Brunt as the temporary figure in the dugout. Although, reports in the last few days have suggested Tony Mowbray could be in the frame to return to the club after 16 years since his first stint in charge. The Baggies have won just one of the four Championship matches he has overseen, and they will be hoping their form can start to change when they welcome Stoke City to The Hawthorns on Saturday (15:00).

The Potters have drawn their first two league games under new head coach Mark Robins. Both contests were 0-0 scorelines against Burnley and Plymouth Argyle. They will be sensing an opportunity to secure their first win under the former Coventry City boss at the weekend. Read on for my West Brom vs Stoke City prediction, where you will also find the latest match odds and team news.

West Brom vs Stoke City Odds

West Brom have won five of their 12 home games in the Championship so far this season, so their 8/11 price seems quite short for this clash. Stoke are 7/2 to take the three points but they have won just two of their 11 away contests in the second tier - so again the odds seem a little skinny.

The draw, which has been the outcome in Stoke's last two fixtures in the league, as well as half of West Brom's Championship encounters at The Hawthorns, is on offer at 5/2. This has an implied probability of 28.6%, so there is value to be had with this selection.

Both teams to score No has been a winning selection in two of the last three home games for West Brom in the second tier, while each of Stoke's previous five outings in the league have seen either one or both sides fail to score. BTTS No is marketed at 4/5 (55.6%) for Saturday, which looks to be a tempting option.

Football Odds

Team News

The home team suffered a huge blow in the week, having confirmed that top scorer Josh Maja is going to be "out for several weeks" with a leg injury. For a player who has scored 12 goals in the league, which amounts to just under 40 per cent of the Baggies' total for the season, this could impact their play-off push.

Albion are also still missing their other main striking option, Daryl Dike, who has been absent since February with an Achilles issue. He's back in training, but he's still working his way up to fitness, so it still could be some time before we see him back out on the pitch.

In the FA Cup third round defeat to AFC Bournemouth, Brunt deployed Karlan Grant and Grady Diangana as an attacking duo, which we could see utilised against Stoke. Grant has played as the main centre-forward at times for both Cardiff City and Huddersfield Town in the past, so he's the most likely candidate in Maja's absence.

Forgotten man Devante Cole is another option up top but he has featured in just 10 Championship matches to date, and all were from the bench. West Brom also remain light in defensive areas with Semi Ajayi still nursing the leg problem he picked up in October, while Paddy McNair has returned to parent club San Diego FC.

Kyle Bartley should partner Torbjorn Heggem in the heart of defence as a result. Darnell Furlong should operate at right-back, while Brunt must decide whether to start Callum Styles or Caleb Taylor on the left side.

For Stoke, they have recalled young talent Nathan Lowe from his loan spell at League 2 leaders Walsall, which was likely in preparation of Tom Cannon being summoned back to Leicester City, which was confirmed on Wednesday.

The Foxes are reportedly looking selling him to the highest bidder, with Sunderland and Sheffield United said to be battling it out for the striker.

Lowe returns to Stoke off the back of 15 goals in 22 league appearances for Walsall, so fortune could have him playing an important role for the Potters in the second half of the campaign. Lewis Baker is another player that was recalled from a loan spell, having spent the past few months at Blackburn Rovers.

This decision could have been made in light of a niggling ankle injury that has bothered Wouter Burger throughout the campaign, with the 23-year-old completing 90 minutes on just seven occasions so far in 2024/25.

He had to be withdrawn in the FA Cup match with Sunderland last weekend, which Robins addressed after the game. He said: “I don’t think (it’s a serious one), he felt his ankle and came off."

Defender Ben Gibson missed the trip to Wearside with an injury but Ash Phillips and Ben Wilmot might be Robins' first-choice centre-back pairing for the foreseeable future anyway.

Midfielder Bosun Lawal is still recovering from a back problem which has kept him out of action since April, while Ben Pearson has also been sidelined for the same amount of time. Both are likely to be given minutes with the Under-21s to build up their fitness.

Attacker Million Manhoef (knee) is sidelined until March, while Eric Bocat (calf) and Jordan Thompson (groin) also remain in the medical bay.

Draw @ 5/2

Without Maja up front, West Brom are without their main source of goals and their biggest attacking threat. It's hard not to think this will impact their results for the duration of his absence.

However, even when he was around, there were games in which Albion struggled to create chances and score goals. There was an 11-game stretch earlier in the season where 10 of their results were draws, five of which were 0-0.

Three of them came on home soil, and five of the last eight league games at The Hawthorns have ended in a stalemate. Speaking of 0-0's, that's been the scoreline in Robins' first two Championship outings with Stoke City, and they have lost their biggest attacking threat in Cannon, who scored nine goals in 22 league appearances.

Both teams could look quite blunt offensively on Saturday, which is why I think backing the draw could be the smart play in B71.

Under 2.5 goals @ 8/11

With both teams heading into this without their leading scorers, I think this will limit the goals inside The Hawthorns on Saturday. Under 2.5 goals could be a tempting market to go with as it has struck in two of the previous three league encounters here. It has also been a winning selection in six of the Baggies' last 10 Championship affairs (both home and away).

As I have already mentioned, Stoke's first two league encounters under Robins produced zero goals and they are travelling to face a team who have had a habit of delivering low-scoring games at their ground.

Offers

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