Back fabulous Forestieri to burst West Brom’s bubble

Sky Bet Championship
Sky Sports Football & Main Event, 7.45pm Wednesday

Three successive wins lifted West Brom to the top of the Sky Bet Championship for the first time this season but Darren Moore's side are far from the finished article and make no great appeal at 11-10 to beat mid-table Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

Twenty points from ten games is a decent return for Albion, who have quickly recovered from the disappointment of relegation.

They are the top scorers in the division and owe a lot of their potency to the front three of attacking midfielder Harvey Barnes and strikers Jay Rodriguez and Dwight Gayle.

• Sky Bet Championship standings

Leicester loanee Barnes has been involved in five goals – assisting twice and scoring three times – while Rodriguez and Gayle are first and second on the Baggies' scoring charts with tallies of seven and six.

However, despite their immense firepower Albion have rarely looked comfortable and they were given a rough ride during a 3-2 success at basement boys Preston on Saturday.

Sheffield Wednesday will feel they can get at the West Brom back three and will look to experienced centre-forward Steven Fletcher plus classy attacker Fernando Forestieri to do the damage.

Fletcher has battled his way back into the side and will be feeling confident after notching two goals in the last three games.

But the bigger danger to Albion comes from Forestieri, who is among the most dangerous attacking players in the division.

Forestieri had an injury-ravaged season in 2017-18 – scoring five goals in ten appearances – and has taken a while to win over Owls boss Jos Luhukay.

However, he looked sharp during Wednesday's 1-1 draw at home to Leeds on Friday and is decent value at 7-1 to notch first against West Brom.

Recommendation
F Forestieri first scorer
1pt 7-1 bet365

Bet on this game at Soccerbase.com

Team news
Sheff Wed
Barry Bannan serves a one-game ban while Ash Baker (leg) and Daniel Pudil (broken nose) are doubts. Marco Matias (hamstring) and Gary Hooper (groin) are ruled out.

West Brom
Matt Phillips is an injury doubt after sitting out the 3-2 win at Preston on Saturday.

Key stat
West Brom have kept one clean sheet in their last 11 league games.

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