West Brom v Portsmouth 25th January 2025: EFL Championship Preview and Prediction
West Bromwich Albion host Portsmouth in the EFL Championship on Saturday. A big game for both sides with the hosts in pursuit of a top 6 finish whilst the visitors look to steer clear of relegation.
It will be just only the second meeting between the sides since 2009, having met at Fratton Park earlier on this season. The meeting with Pompey will be Tony Mowbray’s second game since returning as Baggies boss.
Pompey head into the game on an up-turn of form winning both of their last two games. Wins against Middlesbrough and Stoke have lifted Pompey out of the bottom three.
Previous Meetings
As stated, the sides have only met once previously in the last 16 years. That meeting was at Fratton Park. West Brom were victorious by three goals to nil, goals from Josh Maja and a brace from Alex Mowatt enough to see off Pompey back in September.
Both sides couldn’t be split back in the Premier League season of 2008/09, drawing both encounters. Peter Crouch scored for Pompey in their away point in 2008, with a fantastic range of players featuring for both sides.
The likes of Sol Campbell, Jonas Olsson, David James and more made up the familiar faces all those years ago.
Players To Watch
West Brom
The Baggies will have to turn to their second top goalscorer in Karlan Grant this weekend. Josh Maja remains sidelined with an injury which is a big miss for Albion.
Grant has 6 goals and 2 assists this season and can be a threat when playing to the best of his ability.
Pairing Grant’s eye for goal with the midfield maestro Alex Mowatt, West Brom have plenty to offer going forward. Mowatt has 6 goal contributions (4 goals, 2 assists) to his name this season.
Portsmouth
Callum Lang has double digits for Pompey this season, 10 goals in 23 as well as 2 assists. He’s averaging a goal every 194 minutes and could be a threat ahead of this weekends game.
It’s not usually goalkeepers that make the ones to watch, but its hard to discredit the form of Nicolas Schmid. 18 appearances, 3 clean sheets and averaging 3.3 saves per game.
The keeper also registered an assist against Stoke last weekend which is a fun rarity to see in the game.
Prediction
It’ll be a close game between the Baggies and Pompey. West Brom will be looking to get back to winning ways whilst Portsmouth look to build on their winning form.
We’re predicting a 1-1 draw for the game. Pompey have made plenty of progress since their loss to the Baggies earlier on in the season.
It promises to be a proper Championship fixture with both teams battling at both ends of the table.