West Brom v Swansea: Welsh side need to get off the mark
Published:Michael Laudrup isn’t averse to hoying his toys out of the pram and he threatened to do just that at Swansea this summer when he thought the club weren’t going to finance him to a degree he considered adequate.
To quieten the Dane’s kicking and screaming, Huw Jenkins and the Welsh club’s brain trust forked out on a host of new players and, after seeing their team defeated in the opening two games, Laudrup must start delivering the goods beginning with this trip to West Brom.
It’s fair to say that Swansea won’t have been fancied to get anything from games against Manchester United and Tottenham, but what will have been particularly vexing about the defeats is that, after they were coerced to spend a fat wad of money on bringing Wilfried Bony in, he started both games on the bench.
A first Premier League start must be in order at the Hawthorns and the Ivorian predator can be backed at 11/2 to open the scoring here, while it’s 7/4 he notches at any point in the clash.
Having reconsidered his retirement plans, Nicolas Anelka is favoured to break the deadlock; he’s at 9/2 to get the ball rolling, but this doesn’t represent good value.
Not only is the player of a questionable frame of mind to produce good form, he is part of a team that hasn’t been able to score a goal against Southampton or Everton who are hardly the most formidable defensive units.
Arguably none of these are as resolute at the back as Swansea, so there might be good cause to invest in their 5/2 to keep a clean sheet. Those feeling particularly brave can take on the 4/1 available for the Swans to win without conceding.
All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date
