Leicester v West Brom Tips: Best bets for the Midland's derby
Amongst all the drama involving the Super League, we have a Thursday evening Premier League clash where Leicester host West Brom live on BT Sport.
Leicester head into this game with every ambition of playing Champions League football next season. Back-to-back league defeats have dented their chances slightly but they got back to winning ways in their last outing, securing a place in the FA Cup final defeating Southampton 1-0 on Sunday.
As for the away side, they will be full of confidence heading into this clash. West Brom have won 5 league games all season but have won their last 2. Getting the better of Southampton and Chelsea in previous weeks has given the Albion a glimmer of hope that they could avoid relegation, but time is running out.
Sam Allardyce has no fresh injury concerns ahead of this clash so I expect the same side that won 3-0 last game. Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers is still without long term injured duo Harvey Barnes and James Justin but I am expecting a return to the starting 11 for James Maddison.
Potential Leicester starting line-up:
Schmeichel, Fofana, Evans, Soyuncu, Albrighton, Ndidi, Tielemans, Castagne, Maddison, Vardy, Iheanacho.
Potential West Brom starting line-up:
Johnstone, Furlong, O’shea, Bartley, Townsend, Phillips, Yoksulu, Maitland-Niles, Robinson, Pereira, Diagne.
Pereira has been a been one of the bright sparks for Albion all season and in line with his form has seen West Brom pick up back-to-back wins. The talented Brazilian has scored 3 in 2 games and set up a couple as well, a man bang in form.
I’m surprised to see him odds against here to have one shot on target. West Brom's desperation has seen them fire off a lot more shots in recent weeks and Pereira has managed a few himself. He's averaging 2.8 shots per game in his last 7 games and has managed 6 on target in his last 2!
Always an added bonus for shot bets when the player is on spot kicks and Pereira is. WBA need a win here so I am happy to make this our main play as I expect another strong performance from the attacking midfielder.
Yokuslu is yet to shift his impressive collection of yellow cards over from Spain as of yet but I think this could change here. A trend of the past few years is opposition centre midfielders getting cautioned vs the Foxes and I'm hoping for the same again.
James Maddison’s return can help this bet massively. The Englishman draws the most fouls per game for Leicester (2.2) and it will be Yokuslu job to stop him affecting the game. All of Maddison's last 5 starts in the league have seen a CM booked on the opposing side.
In fact, out of his last 12 league starts an opposing CM has been booked in 10 of them! The numbers are helped by the additional drive from midfield of Belgian Youri Tielemans, and with so much on the line here for both sides we should some tactical fouls, hopefully resulting in a card for the Turkish midfielder.
For the longshot I cannot overlook the two tips already given. Both WBA players are vital to the side and after a week's rest, I expect both to start again.
Pereira has had at least 2 on target in both of his last 2 games and is in fine form at the moment. On top of the Yokuslu card I am chucking in James Maddison for 2 shots on target to give us a huge 80/1 poke.
Maddison has managed at least 2 on target in 2 of his last 3 league starts and West Brom concede the most shots in the league so you would fancy him to have a few pops at goal.
