West Brom v Sunderland Betting Tips: Away day blues to go on for Moyes

This match between West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland hardly promises to be one of the more exciting of this weekend’s Premier League fixtures. However, its predictable nature means punters can do well.

West Bromwich Albion may have lost their most recent two fixtures in the cup and league respectively yet they are still doing exceedingly well in the Premier League as they sit in a very lofty eighth place. The Baggies do tend to lose a fair number of games but these tend to be against the top teams in the division, usually winning or at least drawing against the sides in and around them – hence why they are doing so well.

In typical Tony Pulis fashion, West Brom are built on defensive solidity and as a consequence have conceded fewer than all but two of the teams below them in the division, while they have only let in two more than fifth place Manchester City.

Goals are usually the Achilles heel for Pulis teams but his Albion side have actually scored a respectable 28 in just 21 league games this season. The Hawthorns has recently become a fortress for West Brom and they have now won four of their last five home matches in the Premier League after going on an abysmal run of just two wins in ten in a record that stretched back to March 2016.

Sunderland are right in the relegation mire at the moment after a run of three defeats and a draw in their last four games. It seems that the confidence of the Black Cats fans goes up and down rather quickly. After their 2-2 draw against Liverpool, supporters had hope of survival, however, that was soured after their subsequent 3-1 loss to Stoke City which left fans feeling glum again. Fortunately though, they are by no means cut adrift and are only one point off that vital 17th place.

David Moyes’ team have problems both at the back and the front. They have conceded 40 goals in just 21 matches and have kept just two Premier League clean sheets this season. Having said that, their record is actually the joint best of the bottom four clubs.

Much is made of Jermain Defoe’s contribution to the team and rightly so as who knows where they would be without him. The Black Cats have scored just 20 goals this season which is the joint third worst in the division with the former West Ham United striker scoring 12 of them. The fact that only eight goals have been contributed by other members of the team is incredibly worrying.

Away form has been dire for Sunderland in recent weeks and they have lost eight of their last nine matches on the road, conceding 19 and scoring just two in the process, whilst they have failed to keep a clean sheet away from the Stadium of Light in all competitions this season.

A West Brom win is pretty inevitable here as these are the exact type of games that Pulis targets. I think this Albion defence should be able to nullify the Sunderland attack, despite the presence of Jermain Defoe, and emerge with three points and a clean sheet. Furthermore, five of the last seven meetings between these two sides at the Hawthorns have resulted in a West Brom victory to nil which can be had here at appealing odds of 7/4.

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