West Bromwich Albion will welcome Queens Park Rangers to the Hawthorns this Friday night as the Baggies look to continue their early march back into the Premier League in the 2021/22 season, just as QPR aim to continue their decent start.
Mark Warburton’s men have had a positive beginning to the new season, which was only amplified as they squeezed past Premier League side Everton during the week on penalties after a 2-2 draw.
💪 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 💪Check out the full set of snaps 📸 as we build up to Friday night ⤵️— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) September 22, 2021
💪 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 💪Check out the full set of snaps 📸 as we build up to Friday night ⤵️
The London outfit led for quite a chunk of the game after a Charlie Austin double gave them the lead until the 47th minute when Andros Townsend scored for Everton that ultimately took the game to penalties. The shootout itself was a classic, as QPR won 8-7 when Seny Dieng stopped Tom Davies’ 12-yard kick.
As well as beating a top tier side, back in the Championship, the R’s are currently in eighth after a pretty decent start by their usual mid-table standards, as they have 12 points, which is only six off leaders Bournemouth and one behind the play-offs, where Blackburn Rovers occupy sixth.
QPR have managed to win three, draw three and lose two in the second tier, but given how they narrowly lost to Bournemouth and beat high-flying Coventry City in this period, it’s fair to say that Warburton’s side can be positive about this season early on.
As for West Brom, they are once again involved in another promotion battle it seems after falling back into the Premier League immediately after promotion last season.
In the 2019/20 campaign where they did reach the top flight again, the club finished second and they are striving for the same again.
The Baggies, alongside the league leaders Bournemouth, are the only unbeaten side left in the Championship, but this doesn’t necessarily reflect a team that is in excellent form early on, simply because they’ve had four draws and four wins.
In a promotion race out of what is often referred to as the toughest league in the world to get out of, a draw is as bad as a loss and West Brom need a comfortable win here to remind the likes of Fulham they are not here to stay.
More worryingly for the Midlands outfit, three of these four draws have all come in their past three games.
With this in mind, Forebet predicts a draw here but with a game that should see over 2.5 goals as the two have scored 30 goals between them from eight games each thus far.