‘No doubt’ – Sky pundit predicts West Brom v Preston, claims Baggies will ‘certainly miss’ ace
Sky Sports pundit David Prutton has predicted that West Brom will pick up all three points once again when Preston North End visit the Hawthorns on Tuesday night.
Prutton has predicted that Slaven Bilic’s side will also pick up another clean-sheet in a routine 2-0 victory for the home side, despite both being in great form recently.
The Baggies are predicted to have too much for Alex Neil and his men, with Prutton even admitting he is struggling to look past West Brom for the Championship title.
Prutton was full of praise for West Brom but did point out that the suspension of Romaine Sawyers could be a big blow for them in the next three games.
“I’ve been really impressed with the Baggies’ professional approach since their slump late last year and I’m certainly struggling to look past them for the title with 12 games left to play, but they’ll certainly miss Romaine Sawyers, who is suspended for this one,” he wrote in his predictions blog.
“Like their hosts, North End are in a rich vein of form. They currently occupy the final play-off spot and will no doubt have designs on finishing there or thereabouts come May, but I just think West Brom will have too much for them.”
It was a moment of madness from Sawyers against one of his former teammates Jamie Paterson that saw him given a red-card. There can be no complaints after he grabbed the Bristol man around the throat.
The 28-year-old has struggled as of late after a cracking start to the season, with Jake Livermore stealing the spotlight in recent months with a number of superb performances.
Despite Sawyers averaging 64 passes per game at an impressive success rate of 90.2% according to WhoScored, he only completes 0.9 key passes in each outing – a stat that will disappoint Bilic who will certainly want the midfielder to be more influential from the heart of his side.
Yes, he will be a miss, but the Baggies certainly have the resources to deal without him, and a break could do Sawyers the world of good.
In other West Brom news, Sky Sports have claimed that this teenager could start for the Baggies v Preston