Kevin Phillips predicts West Brom clash v Aston Villa
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Phillips predicts West Brom to hold Aston Villa to a draw when two of his former clubs face each other at Villa Park on Sunday.
Albion suffered an abysmal defeat to Leicester on Thursday to stop their two-match winning run and basically kill any hopes of survival.
Sam Allardyce’s side can close the gap to safety to seven points with a win at Aston Villa this weekend but Phillips cannot see either side earning maximum points.
“It’s a tough one,” Phillips told West Brom News. “I’m going to sit on the fence on this one, I just think it could be a draw.
“I’m going to for a 1-1 draw.
“Sam will get a reaction from the West Brom players after a disappointing performance last time. I’m sure Big Sam will get into them and of course, Villa lost to Man City.
“I can see a 1-1 draw.”
Albion were humiliated by Aston Villa at The Hawthorns earlier this season when Allardyce took charge of the Baggies for the first time.
Jake Livermore’s stupid sending off set the tone for a dismal few weeks in the Black Country and proved that the midfielder cannot be someone who Big Sam can continue to trust.
If anything, that red card was a wake-up call and prompted Big Sam and Luke Dowling to improve the midfield in the January window, which they did.
However, on Thursday, Okay Yokuslu and Ainsley Maitland-Niles were two of many woeful underperformers at the King Power.
We’ll need to improve drastically to get anything at Villa Park on Sunday and we expect Allardyce to make some changes.
In other West Brom news, John Percy has shared a big update on the potential Albion takeover.
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