David Prutton predicts result in West Brom v Birmingham City clash for Sky Sports
David Prutton has predicted that West Brom will head into the October international break with three consecutive Championship wins when they face Birmingham City on Friday 6 October.
The Sky Sports presenter believes that Carlos Corberan’s side will continue their excellent unbeaten run that stretches back to the September international fixtures when they travel to St Andrew’s, with Prutton predicting that the Baggies will win 2-1.
Birmingham City ended a winless run of six matches in a fantastic fashion against Huddersfield Town on Tuesday (3 October) as John Eustace’s side ran out 4-1 winners, but Prutton believes that West Brom will have enough to deal with the Blues’ newfound confidence.
Writing in his Sky Sports Championship predictions (5 October) he said: “That was a statement win for Birmingham against Huddersfield in midweek. Scoring goals had been a bit of an issue, and that should give them some real confidence heading into Friday night.
“West Brom are in good nick, too. They have won their last two and are unbeaten in five, storming into the top six in the process. I think they could win again here.”
Good nick
The September block of fixtures has seen Albion really find their feet in the Championship under Corberan and in the last few weeks the Baggies have been one of the teams to beat in England’s second tier and the basis of that has been a solid defence.
West Brom have barely conceded a goal in their last few outings, keeping clean sheets in four of their last five matches and while Birmingham did score four against the Terriers in midweek, they had only scored once in the four matches prior.
Should Corberan’s side defend in the manner that they have done over the last month, they should have what it takes to prevent Eustace’s forward options from running riot in front of their home crowd. But with Siriki Dembele back fit again, Albion will have to be at their best to keep the Scotsman quiet.
What will be interesting is how Corberan opts to set up his own attack after Brandon Thomas-Asante was left out of the Baggies’ 4-0 win over Preston, only for the former Salford striker to return against Sheffield Wednesday. There may not be many clear forward options at The Hawthorns but the Spaniard loves to tinker with his striking options.
In other West Brom news, Corberan has picked out one game-changer in the Blues’ line-up