Football Tips: 3 you have to see as West Brom tackle Leicester on Sunday

It's a pretty stern test for West Brom back in the big time as they host Leicester on Sunday at 14:00.

Slaven Bilic Brendan Rodgers

It’s east meets west in the Premier League in the early kickoff. Well, at least from a midlands perspective it is, as West Brom face off with Leicester City.

I’m not easily impressed, but 2pm kickoffs on Sundays in the Premier League provide me with an opportunity to match the athletes I’m watching.

Yes, right around a quarter-to-three, the Sunday roast is usually ready, and I can fairly much scoff a plateful by the time the referee gets proceedings underway for the second half. Hopefully that won’t be the highlight of the early afternoon, but I’ve yet to be topped.

West Brom are a funny old club in many ways. Hearing the stories from an older generation about their free-scoring sides from fifty years ago is little compensation for this generation’s traumatic experience following the yoyo-est of yoyo clubs.

In Leicester, they see what can happen if you recruit well and get off to a good start. An opening day win would go a long way to convincing them they’re Premier League quality again, but this is a horrible fixture to land first.

Let’s take a look at three best bets as your Sunday on the sofa begins in earnest.

Over 3.5 Goals

There’s something quite nice about the early kickoff on a Sunday. Teams play looser, there’s a tonne of adrenaline for opening day as you’ve had to wait a tad bit longer, and both of these sides attack like there’s no tomorrow.

Even in previous stints in the league, Bilic’s teams flew forward rather than sat in, and I’ll expect no less here with Over 3.5 Goals.

West Brom have a tonne of pace and I think Bilic will see his old side West Ham realise how much of a mistake they made In letting Grady Diangana leave the club.

Time of First Goal: Up to and Including the 28th Minute

Familiarity is usually the catalyst for good starts. So when you see newly-promoted sides go out and splash the cash, they tend to take an age to get going.

This isn’t the case with West Brom as there’s been no major additions, and only those who were already on loan to them last year have joined permanently.

Brendan Rodgers

For Leicester, they’ve added Timothy Castagne, but that’s the be-all and end-all of their shopping spree. Is the Premier League actually becoming more sensible, or is a global pandemic causing some logistics problems?

Unfortunately, it’s likely the latter and not the former. However, all this adds up to an early opener and I’m on Time of First Goal: Up to and Including the 28th Minute.

Leicester to Win

I don’t think this is a bad price, and I don’t think, even now, people take Leicester seriously.

It’s very rare when you expect Leicester to win a game and they don’t, unlike, say, Spurs or Arsenal.

This is the consistency that Brendan Rodgers has installed at the club, and given West Brom should contend for at least half the ball, Leicester can set up as they always to do – to punish on the break.

More of the same, as new seasons come and go. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

Best Bets for West Brom v Leicester on Sunday at 14:00

Over 3.5 goals
Time of First Goal: Up to and Including the 28th Minute
Leicester to Win

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