The Premier League dishes up a Black Country derby this weekend as Wolverhampton Wanderers welcome West Bromwich Albion to Molineux on Saturday.
Wolves have slipped to fourteenth in the table following a damaging five-game winless run, while West Bromwich remain second from bottom – 14 points behind Wolves.
Derby day 🔜 COYB! 🔵⚪️#WOLWBA | #WBA pic.twitter.com/XirEEDL8GY— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) January 12, 2021
Derby day 🔜 COYB! 🔵⚪️#WOLWBA | #WBA pic.twitter.com/XirEEDL8GY
The Wanderers’ latest loss came against Everton on Tuesday, with goals from Alex Iwobi and Michael Keane cancelling out Ruben Neves’ first-half strike.
Since beating Chelsea before Christmas, Wolverhampton have suffered three defeats and two draws, temporarily stopping the rot with an FA Cup win over Crystal Palace.
Losses to Burnley and Manchester United, along with draws against Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton, have all but ended Wolves’ European ambitions, at least for now.
It is no secret that Wolves’ main problem has been scoring goals this season. Indeed, only five teams in the division have netted less.
On the top of struggling to score goals, spare a thought for West Brom. They are the second-lowest scorers in the league, bagging just 11 in 17 games.
To make matters worse, the Baggies also have the worst defensive record in the Premier League, having conceded 39 times this term – conceding at a rate of over two goals per game.
West Brom have only managed to seal one Premier League victory following promotion from the Championship last year.
Their sole win came against fellow strugglers Sheffield United back in November. Other than that, five draws and 11 defeats mean the Baggies are five points off the bottom and six points from safety.
With Slaven Bilic being relieved of his duties in December, new manager Sam Allardyce will have to work some serious miracles in order to steer his side clear of relegation trouble.
Head-to-head: These two rivals haven’t faced each other since the 2011/12 Premier League season, with West Brom doing the double over Wolves back then.
The Baggies have claimed 64 victories in this fixture over the years, while Wolves have 53 wins to their name. The other 43 meetings have been draws.
Team news: Raul Jimenez, Adama Traore, Daniel Podence, Fernando Marcal and Jonny are all currently out injured for Wolves. Willy Boly is also a doubt for Saturday’s match.
As for West Brom, Conor Gallagher is suspended after picking up five yellow cards. Hal Robson-Kanu, Karlan Ahearne-Grant and Conor Townsend are injury doubts.
Wolves haven’t been on a great run of late, but then again, neither have West Brom. The home side are expected to return to winning ways on Saturday.
Forebet predicts that Wolves will score over 1.5 goals and keep a clean sheet on their way to claiming the Black County bragging rights.