West Bromwich Albion v Burnley Betting Tips

Both of these sides are looking to simply survive in the Premier League this season and they are both making a good fist of it as they currently sit outside of the bottom three.

West Bromwich Albion are one of the more unattractive sides in the league but you cannot deny that they do the basics well and get the job done. This of course is down to the great management of Tony Pulis who knows his squad’s limitations but also knows how to maximise their strengths.

The Albion had been on a relatively decent run with no defeats in three games before inevitably losing to two title contenders in Liverpool and Manchester City.

However, rather than going into the recent international break on the back of consecutive defeats, the Baggies managed to snatch a win away at current champions Leicester City.

This match against Burnley is perfect for somebody like Tony Pulis. The Welshman knows how important these games are and clearly gets that message across to his players as they have only lost the one match (against Bournemouth) to teams who are likely to be in and around them come the end of the season. There is no doubt that this strong message will be reinforced for this match against Burnley.

We usually associate Tony Pulis sides with defensive organisation and clean sheets, however, it will worry West Brom that they have kept just two clean sheets in 11 matches this season with their last one coming back in August. With the Baggies lacking real firepower to outscore opponents, they need to sort out this defensive record if they want to survive comfortably.

Despite once again being tipped to be relegation fodder this season, Burnley are doing remarkably well, sitting in a lofty eleventh with no losses in their last three matches.

Just like West Brom, Burnley are an incredibly organised side – a side who even the top teams in the division struggle to break down. However, their last match against Crystal Palace showed they have goals in them also (Burnley ran out 3-2 winners) as well as exceptional character. Sean Dyche’s men nearly let a two-goal lead slip, and could have even lost the game, but still ran out winners thanks to Ashley Barnes’ late winner.

Of course home form is very important to any team’s survival hopes with away wins being a bonus. This is perfectly demonstrated by the Clarets who have an excellent home record but are actually pretty abysmal away from Turf Moor with just one point on the road all season.

Having said that, that point came away at Manchester United in their last fixture and so perhaps confidence surrounding their away form has improved thanks to that good result.

West Brom have been made favourites for this match and rightly so given their general record and Burnley’s away form. However, morale is clearly high in the Clarets camp and it would not surprise me if they nicked something from a side who have been rather benign this season. With this in mind, the draw, at 12/5, makes plenty of appeal.

A second punt in this match is ‘Darren Fletcher to be Man of the Match’ at big odds of 14/1.

Neither of these two sides are blessed with quality in the midfield areas but West Brom’s Darren Fletcher is a step-up in class. The Scotland international has the ability to pull the strings for West Brom and his performance could have a big impact on the game.

Albion are likely to have the more possession of the two sides and I expect most of the play will go through the former Manchester United man. His quality should really show through on Monday night and it would not surprise me one bit if he got the Man of the Match award.

Whilst it is a bit of a long shot at 14/1, with this likely to be a tense match, I expect Fletcher do be the dominant force and he is probably the most likely recipient out of all the players who will feature.

See more tips here.