Week 17 sees Man United head to the Hawthorns to take on West Brom for Saturday’s 17:30 fixture. United will be looking to build on improving form as they try to salvage something from their worst start to a Premier League campaign since 1989. After putting together a decent run of results they are just about keeping pace with battle for European places in 6th. In contrast, Pulis’ West Brom are having a fantastic start to the season, only 4 points and 1 place behind United in 7th, having scored 1 more goal than Jose’s £718 million squad have managed.
The Devils comes to Albion
December has been good to United so far, they go into this game on the back of two consecutive wins against Tottenham at home and Palace away, and having qualified for the next round of the Europa League. One serious problem they have exhibited in the season so far is an inability to kill games off, leading to throwing away leads in the last 10 minutes. We saw this with Everton, Stoke and, most bitterly, against Arsenal at Old Trafford. The last two results seem to buck this trend and show a United with strength of character and mental resilience more resembling that of years gone past. This was especially clear in the Palace game, where they were able to turn a draw into 3 points in the 88th minute. It seems like United are finally pulling together some good form.
Bailly going off on Wednesday, and almost certainly missing the game on Saturday, contributes to a small injury crisis at United, especially in defence. They will be without him, Smalling and Shaw at the back, and emerging attacking prospect Henrik Mkhitaryan is out until late December.
Bagging a result
West Brom is looking like they could be this season’s surprise package. The steady leadership of Tony Pulis has seen them rise to the dizzying heights of 7th place after a string of solid performances. Last Sunday saw them take Chelsea on in an impressive organised, defensive display; only conceding and losing the match through a superb piece of play by star striker Diego Costa. Wednesday night’s game saw them take apart Swansea in all of 13 minutes, with Salomón Rondon scoring one of the few all-headed hat-tricks in Premier League history. The quality of deliveries leading to the goals is worth noting.
Their form in the last month and a half has been particularly good, with 4 wins in 6 and the only loss to Chelsea. A large part of Albion’s success so far this season has come from beating teams equal or below them in the table; against supposedly higher quality teams they have mostly come up short.
However, playing at the Hawthorns against a United team still taking Bambi-esque steps towards having any kind of form, and buoyed by their positive performance against Chelsea, Pulis may just fancy his chances for a good result. He will have an almost entirely fit squad, missing only Evans and Berahino.
Finding the value in a tight game
Expect another organised performance from West Brom, and a laboured, possession-heavy United performance. Bet 365 have Under 2.5 goals at 3/4, which seems to be good value. Coral have 1:1 at 8/1, also worth a punt. Salomón Rondon anytime goalscorer is at 11/5 on Bet Victor if you think he will be able to carry on with his goal scoring run.
Betfair:
Bet on Henrik Stenson to become the BMW PGA Championship Winner.
Paddypower:
Back Australia to take the Ashes home with them.
Betway:
Back Rafael Nadal to become the Mens French Open Winner.
Coral:
Back One For Arthur to win the Grand National.
Bet365:
Back Mexico to win the Confederations Cup.
