‘Need to get three more’ – Mark Lawrenson predicts West Brom v Crystal Palace
BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson has backed Crystal Palace to beat West Brom 2-1 at The Hawthorns on Sunday in their Premier League matchup.
The Baggies earned their first league win of the season against Sheffield United last weekend, but remain stuck in the relegation zone with six points from their opening 10 matches.
A Conor Gallagher goal sealed the win but the Baggies gave away plenty of opportunities, with the Blades generating 2.7 expected goals (via FBRef).
Writing in his weekly predictions column on the BBC Sport website, Lawrenson said that Slaven Bilic could be tempted to go more offensive in an attempt to secure a second win.
“Palace missed the spark of Wilfried Zaha in the defeats by Burnley and Newcastle – they need him back,” he said (via BBC Sport).
“Slaven Bilic’s Baggies beat Sheffield United last week, but they hung on for that three points. He will think this is a game where his side need to get three more. Will he play a slightly more offensive team because of that? I fancy Palace at The Hawthorns though.”
Sunday is a huge challenge for Bilic and his team, who face a compact Crystal Palace side who can be devastating in transition.
Roy Hodgson has set his side up so that they are better without the ball and all four of their wins this season have come when they enjoyed less than 40% possession (via WhoScored).
With this in mind, the Baggies should stick with their 5-2-1-2 formation and look to stay compact.
Matheus Pereira can provide the creativity in attack and the presence of two strikers will give the Palace centre-back pairing something to think about.
They lost their most recent game against Newcastle United, who simply allowed them to have more of the ball (via WhoScored), but they were missing Wilfried Zaha and Bilic will have to think about how he can stop the Ivory Coast international.
In other West Brom news, why the Baggies are in the ideal position to add second win v Crystal Palace
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