West Bromwich VS Leicester City Match Prediction
- 2017-04-29
- 14:00:00
West Bromwich will win this match.
West Brom have had the upper hand against Leicester recently, with their 2-1 win in the reverse fixture earlier this season their seventh in 13 games against the Foxes since the turn of the century. Leicester have won on both their trips to the Hawthorns since their return to the Premier League in 2014, however, with Jamie Vardy scoring what proved to be the winning goals in both 3-2 successes. Here are the results of the last five matches:
Nov 06, 2016: Leicester City 1-2 West Brom
Mar 01, 2016: Leicester City 2-2 West Brom
Oct 31, 2015: West Brom 2-3 Leicester City
Apr 11, 2015: West Brom 2-3 Leicester City
Nov 01, 2014: Leicester City 0-1 West Brom
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Leicester’s poor away form makes it difficult to have much faith in Craig Shakespeare’s team away from home, even with West Brom having lost their last three matches. Tony Pulis’ side will want to finish what has been a great season strongly, and a win at home to last year’s champions will be a good way to bounce back into form.
The bookmakers have found it difficult to split West Brom and Leicester – both Bet365 and Ladbrokes are offering 7/5 on a West Brom win and 7/4 on Leicester. As ever with the English Premier League, Betfair have the best prices: 8/5 on a West Brom win and 2/1 on Leicester. The draw is a best price of 5/2 with Bet365 and Ladbrokes.
Both teams to score has been set at 4/5 for both yes and 11/10 for no with Betfair.
Reason: Leicester’s away form has been poor all season, but West Brom have faltered after their own good run of form while Leicester have looked a better team since Craig Shakespeare took over. West Brom are favourites, but it’s close as a result.
West Brom have a full-strength squad to choose from, and could bring Salomon Rondon and Allan Nyom back into the starting XI, after both players dropped to the bench for West Brom’s defeat to Liverpool two weeks ago. Having had a fortnight between games, West Brom should be fit and firing for Leicester’s visit.
Alongside his influence at the back, veteran Northern Ireland centre-back has also been invaluable at set pieces at the other end of the pitch. The defender is actually West Brom’s joint-top scorer with seven goals this season.
Three consecutive defeats, all without scoring, have all but ended West Brom’s slim chances of qualifying for Europe, and it’s now four games with a goal this month having drawn 0-0 at Old Trafford prior to that. Their last win was the 3-1 defeat of Arsenal before the international break.
Goalkeeper:Foster
Defenders:Dawson, McAuley, Evans, Brunt
Midfielders:Livermore, Yacob, Fletcher
Forwards:Phillips, Rondon, Chadli
Leicester have no new injury concerns, and could welcome captain Wes Morgan back to the starting line-up in place of Yohan Benalouane this weekend. Leonardo Ulloa has started the last two games up front, but Shinji Okazaki could come back into the team at the Hawthorns.
While he has struggled to recreate the highs of last season, England international striker Jamie Vardy has still banged in 14 goals in all competitions this season.
Leicester’s late defeat at Arsenal in midweek stretched their winless run to five games – a stark contrast to the six in a row they won after Craig Shakespeare replaced Claudio Ranieri as manager. That winless run includes their 2-1 aggregate defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals, but also a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace and a 4-2 loss at Everton – both symbolic of their troubles away from home this year.
Goalkeeper:Schmeichel
Defenders:Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs
Midfielders:Mahrez, Drinkwater, Ndidi, Albrighton
Forwards:Vardy, Okazaki