West Bromwich Albion welcome Swansea City to The Hawthorns in Monday Night Football from the Sky Bet Championship.
Victory will see West Brom climb to 11th in the table, whereas Swansea can improve to 16th with a win.
Team News
Sam Johnstone is a doubt for West Brom as he continues to rebuild his fitness following a bout of illness in recent days.
Kean Bryan (knee), Matt Phillips (toe) and Daryl Dike (hamstring) remain absent.
Swansea could welcome Kyle Naughton back from a thigh injury which has kept the defender sidelined in recent weeks.
Hannes Wolf (hamstring) could also feature but Nathanael Ogbeta (hamstring) remains ruled out.
Stat Attack
- West Brom have lost just one of their last five league meetings against Swansea (W3, D1, L1).
- Swansea have claimed just two points in their last six visits to The Hawthorns since winning 2-0 in September 2013 (D2, L4), with both draws finishing 1-1 in February 2016 and April 2018 respectively.
- West Brom have kept just two clean sheets in their last 11 meetings against Swansea (W4, D3, L4).
- The Baggies have kept just three disciplinary clean sheets at home across all competitions this season.
- Swansea have failed to score in their last four away matches (D1, L3), during which they conceded nine goals in their last three away games which all ended in defeat.
Prediction
West Brom took a baby step forward last Tuesday with their first goal in a month after pouncing on scrappy defending from Middlesbrough, yet ultimately lost due to getting too outstretched in open play without protecting both flanks despite their solid overall defending.
Steve Bruce’s Baggies though need to find extra sharpness up front in attack and sort out their leaky second-half defensive quality, with eight of their last ten conceded goals coming after half-time which is a huge worry.
Swansea though aren’t in the best of form themselves with nine conceded goals without reply in their last three away matches, during which they were completely thrashed last time out at Sheffield United with awful defending and poor conversion of chances.
On that note, this game is either going to be a dull cagey clash or a goal fest given the leaky defences at both ends, although I do fancy West Brom to build on their goal last week and return to winning ways if their attack can find its best edge again.
Prediction: WBA 2-1 Swansea
Result: WBA 0-2 Swansea