West Bromwich Albion kick off the first Super Sunday of 2020-21 Premier League season as they welcome Leicester City to The Hawthorns.
This match marks the Baggies’ return to the Premier League after a two-season absence, whilst Leicester look to build on their eventual fifth-placed finish of last season after running as high as second throughout the campaign.
Team News
Kenneth Zohore and Conor Townsend are doubts for West Brom with a calf strain and ankle injury respectively.
Leicester will have James Maddison available after the midfielder recovered from a hip injury which sidelined him in the final weeks of last season.
Filip Benkovic (hip), Jonny Evans (Quadricep) and Ricardo Pereira (knee) are however ruled out whilst Christian Fuchs (groin), Daniel Amartey (ankle) and Wes Morgan (hamstring) all face late fitness tests.
Stat Attack
- West Brom have won just one of their last seven league meetings against Leicester (W1, D2, L4).
- Leicester have won all four previous Premier League trips to The Hawthorns (W4), although they have kept just one clean sheet during those four visits.
- Jamie Vardy has scored once in each of the Foxes’ last four visits to West Brom.
- West Brom are unbeaten in three of their last five opening weekend fixtures of a new season (W3, L2).
- Leicester have won just one of their last five opening league matches of a new season (W1, D1, L3), with those three defeats all coming away from King Power Stadium.
Prediction
After two seasons out of the top flight, it is nice to see West Brom back in the top flight with a strong blend of experience and youth, especially with the permanent signings of two influential players from last season in Matheus Pereira and Grady Diangana.
Leicester meanwhile just completely dropped the ball post-lockdown to slide down from third into fifth and Europa League qualification, which is going to make this season tough with games coming thick and fast after next month’s international break and means that the Foxes need to make a bright unbeaten start to give themselves room to falter once they enter Europe.
I therefore am expecting a tough encounter between two good teams who often like to utilise their flanks in terms of creativity but Leicester seems to be the Baggies’ home Achilles in terms of Premier League results, so I am going for Leicester to edge this encounter.
Prediction: WBA 1-2 Leicester
Result: WBA 0-3 Leicester