West Brom v Crystal Palace: prediction, betting preview and free tip

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for West Bromwich Albion v Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Premier League, midday, Sunday

Best bet

Crystal Palace
1pt 13-8 Betfair

Team news

West Brom
Jake Livermore and Kieran Gibbs are both fit. Conor Townsend (knee) is a doubt.

Crystal Palace
Wilf Zaha has finished self-isolating. Luka Milivojevic returns after a ban.

Match preview

Roy Hodgson may not enjoy answering questions on Wilf Zaha's impact, but whether the mercurial ace starts or not should be central to punters' thinking before placing a bet on this Hawthorns tussle.

Hodgson reckons journalists are overly obsessed with the stats which tell us Zaha has missed 17 Premier League games for Palace in the last four years and the Eagles have lost 15 of them.

But it isn't just disinterested hacks who are aware of Zaha's status in the Palace ranks – Hodgson's own fans will be desperate to see Zaha leading the line at West Brom.

Zaha has missed the last two defeats at Burnley and against Newcastle while he was self-isolating but surely if he's even close to match-ready he will start at West Brom.

And if he does then Palace make an attractive proposition as they seek to complete a hat-trick of wins over the promoted sides.

West Brom will be feeling slightly perkier after picking up their first win, 1-0 against Sheffield United, but it wasn't an impressive effort. They were better at Manchester United and lost.

Goals are generally scarce in Albion games – they've only scored seven times and their last seven matches have yielded just nine – while Palace too look desperately short of firepower beyond Zaha. Hodgson, inevitably, disagrees.

Only two clubs have mustered fewer shots on target than Slaven Bilic's men and there's a sense that one goal might well be enough to settle this. Take Palace, usually lively on the counter with plenty of pace options, to grab it.

Key stat

West Brom have scored just two goals in their last seven league matches.

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