Where are they now
18th – Burnley – 23 games – 20 points – Goal Difference (-17)
15th – West Brom – 23 games – 22 points – Goal Difference (-12)
This is the first time that Burnley will be hosting West Brom in English football’s top flight after 1970.Both the teams come into this match after being a part of some transfer deadline drama.
Rumours persisted of Danny Ings’s departure from Burnley throughout the transfer window and funny enough they still do remain even after the transfer window is closed.
The player, the manager as well as the management were clear that Ings wouldn’t leave atleast till end of the season but rumours linking him to big clubs like Liverpool and Real Sociedad were strong and might have even tempted the player at some point. It’s all over now and Ings can play out the remainder of the season with Burnley.
The transfer saga that West Brom were part off was a different story it was about a young player who thinks too much of himself. Saido Berahino has been one of the finds of this season and has been stunning for West Brom till now scoring 9 goals so far.
His blistering form has had big clubs taking notice of him but this has seemingly gone too much inside his head. He appeared in an unsanctioned interview where he said that he wanted to move on to “bigger things”.
West Brom is a big club and no matter how good a player you are you must respect the club whether it’s West Brom or any other. For Berahino now stays with the Baggies and it will be interesting to see how Pulis uses him.
Burnley
It will be interesting to see whether Burnley puts out the same team for the 10th consecutive Premier league game. Perhaps they are going after Birmingham’s 12 games unchanged record. To be honest Sean Dyche’s men look really out of their depth in the Premier League and perhaps this kind of a record may prove to be a consolation prize at the end of the season.
Burnley has been putting in the hard work but getting results for their work is where they have been struggling at.
Burnley manager Sean Dyche has a full strength squad to choose from and there aren’t any major injury concerns.
Burnley comes into this match after losing to fellow relegation contenders Sunderland last week. They are currently 18th in table and win here will help them move out of the relegation zone.
West Brom
The Baggies haven’t won at Turf Moor in their last 12 visits and will be looking to set the record straight here. Pulis’s men are currently 15th in the table 2 points above the relegation zone.
A win here will mean they will put some daylight between themselves and the relegation battle. The Pulis’s era has so far brought them 4 points in three games. The baggies however were thrashed in their last premier league game 3-0 by Spurs.
Past Meeting: – Last time these two teams meet this season in September West Brom won the game 4-0 but a repeat of that is highly unlikely to happen.
Prediction: – Burnley vs West Brom – 1-1 (It will pretty tight nervy game and both the teams will probably cancel each other out… Not a result that will help either of them).
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