The out-of-form Arsenal travel to the Hawthorns on Wednesday to take on West Bromwich Albion in the second round of the EFL Cup with kickoff at 22:00.
West Bromwich Albion started their Championship campaign with a fixed target, which is an immediate return to the Premier League after being relegated last season, as they have not yet suffered a loss since opening their campaign about three weeks ago.
The Baggies recorded a 2-2 draw against Bournemouth but have since recorded three consecutive wins with Luton Town, Sheffield United and Blackburn falling to the Baggies’ superiority. They head into the match off the back of a 2-1 win over Blackburn with Alex Mowatt and Ben Brereton getting on the scoresheet while Matt Phillips scored the consolation goal for Blackburn.
Valerien Ismael will expect his side to carry their confidence and momentum to the Wednesday’s clash and we expect West Brom to punish the visitors as they have by now studied Arsenal’s defensive frailties ahead of the clash.
Meanwhile Arsenal’s woeful start in the Premier League continued last Sunday when they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Emirates and will need a morale-boosting win here as they prepare to face Manchester City in their next Premier League fixture.
The defeat marked the second consecutive loss in the top tier as they opened the season with a 2-0 loss at Brentford while it also marked, their fourth consecutive loss across all competitions and the prospect of the Gunners finishing August without a single win is very real.
However, the last time the two sides met Arsenal won with a 3-1 back in May but the gunners are really in poor form now and will be fascinating to see how they navigate this one with West Brom being in a good home form.
West Brom vs Arsenal head to head
Both sides have met in 30 occasions since 2002 with Arsenal being the better side with 22 victories whereas West Brom have claimed only four victories and four matches ended in draw.
- Arsenal 3-1 West Brom 09/05/21
- West Brom 0-4 Arsenal 02/01/21
- West Brom 1-1 Arsenal 31/12/17
- Arsenal 2-0 West Brom 25/09/17
- West Brom 3-1 Arsenal 18/03/17
Home
- Blackburn 1-2 West Brom
- West Brom 4-0 Sheffield United
- West Brom 3-2 Luton Town
- Bournemouth 2-2 West Brom
- Watford 0-0 West Brom
Away
- Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea
- Brentford 2-0 Arsenal
- Tottenham 1-0 Arsenal
- Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea
- Rangers 2-2 Arsenal
West Bromwich Albion team news
West Brom will only be without Matt Clarke who has a hamstring problem.
Arsenal team news
Arsenal will be without several key players including Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Magalhaes, Hector Bellerin and Thomas Party through injuries while Willian and Ben White will be out through Covid-19.
Prediction and odds
- Draw
- Both sides to score
- Goals over 2.5
