After what was touted as a tricky fixture for Pep Guardiola’s men, which would give the new manager the varied taste of the English Premier League, West Bromwich Albion crumbled like a house of cards upon facing Manchester City’s deadly attack.
West Brom have struggled to win in their last four matches which include two discouraging performances against Liverpool and Manchester City. They will look to get back to winning ways when they visit Leicester City on Saturday.
The Baggies are currently in the 16th position with 10 points from 10 games. Albion’s defence hasn’t been that rock solid in recent matches but their form against the Foxes should give them hope. Leicester City have always found it hard to win against West Brom even in the last season when they beat almost all other Premier League clubs.
They haven’t let Leicester win any of their 6 home matches and the Baggies have scored in 24 of the 25 Premier League matches they played against the Foxes.
Defence
Although West Bromwich have failed to stop goals from entering the net, Pulis doesn’t have a better option than Ben Foster and we expect him to start against Leicester City ahead of Boaz Myhill.
It seems like Pulis is waiting for his team to click and get back their previous form. Craig Dawson will continue to keep his place in the right-back position. Last weekend, Tony Pulis played Jonny Evans as the defensive midfielder putting Jonas Olsson at the heart of the defence with Gareth McAuley. Allan Nyom is likely to keep his place in the left-back position.
Olsson picked up a yellow card in the last game and Evans could do little in recovering the ball from City players. Although it didn’t work that well, but we expect the construct to be effective against Leicester who are not that star-studded as Manchester City. Craig Dawson is on 4 yellow cards and is one more yellow card away from suspension.
Midfield
West Brom missed the services of Argentine defensive midfield Claudio Yacob, who was suspended for the game after picking up five yellow cards. The combative midfielder plays a key role for the Baggies in midfield, breaking up opponents’ game and will be a huge boost for them. He is expected to replace Chris Brunt in the midfield.
Captain Darren Fletcher is likely to start in midfield with Craig Gardner. The deploying of Nacer Chadli didn’t start in the flanks didn’t work as planned and we expect him to retain his number ten position, where he will see more of the ball. James McClean will start at the left flank. He is also on 4 yellow cards and will need to be disciplined or face the prospect of a ban.
Attack
Salomon Rondon has scored in 2 of their previous Premier League meetings and Pulis is not expected to make any changes on that front.
