West Brom vs Nottingham Forest Prediction & Betting Tips - Championship

Prediction published on 12/02/2020, 07:22  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 13/02/2020 at 00:36 in Championship Prediction

There is never a dull round in the Championship and week 33 offers up another delicious set of fixtures this weekend. League leaders West Brom host promotion rivals Nottingham Forest at the Hawthorns. At the time of writing, West Brom are preparing for their midweek fixture at Reading. They appear to be coming through a shaky patch having won three of their last four matches in all competitions. Capitalising on the weak form of their direct rivals for promotion, the Baggies are three points clear. If they win their midweek game in hand then they will double that advantage over second-placed Leeds United. While the other big teams in the second tier can be overly reliant on individual brilliance, West Brom have arguably the strongest unit in the division, hence their position in the table. If one player was to be highlighted for them it would be Brazilian midfielder Matheus Pereira. The 23-year-old has scored five goals and supplied a further nine for his teammates this season. Shutting him down will halt West Brom's attack.

Forest travel to the Midlands as a case study in the topsy-turvy nature of the Championship. Fresh from beating Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds at the weekend, they proceeded to lose at home to relegation-battling Charlton. This inconsistency is (almost paradoxically) commonplace in the second tier. Forest are a good team with one of the league's best forwards in Lewis Grabban in their ranks. Their midweek defeat at the Forest Ground wasn't that surprising given their middling home record. Conversely, their away record is one of the best in the division; note that they took a point away from Charlton earlier in the campaign. It's hard to rule any result out in that section of the division but West Brom look as though they have their mojo back. We predict a home win.