West Bromwich Albion vs Chelsea Predictions

• West Brom have lost both Premier League games this season and conceded eight goals in the process.
• Chelsea have seen at least three goals in each of their last eight Premier League away games.
• The Blues have failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their last 11 league road trips.

Baggies out of their depth in top flight

West Brom were always expected to struggle after their promotion to the top flight, but Slaven Bilic probably wasn’t expecting their opening couple of weeks to go quite so badly.

The Baggies were completely overrun by Leicester in the opening weekend and followed that with a 5-2 thrashing at Everton, with a Dominic Calvert-Lewin masterclass sending the Midlands club plummeting to the bottom of the table.

Saturday is unlikely to prove any easier for the hosts and, after conceding eight goals in their opening two games, the visiting Blues will be eagerly anticipating getting their hands on this West Brom defence.

Chelsea bounce back after humbling defeat

Much has been made of Chelsea’s business over the summer, but last weekend they showed they are still some way off the top teams despite their extraordinary array of talents. A flat performance was punctuated by another Kepa horror show as the world’s most expensive goalkeeper gifted Liverpool a 2-0 victory, but their midweek performance did see them bounce back.

The Blues’ win over Barnsley was expected, of course, but the 6-0 scoreline and a hat-trick for new signing Kai Havertz will have done wonders for their confidence after that dismal showing last weekend.

Werner to fire Blues to victory at the Hawthorns

Timo Werner was rested for that midweek outing and is still awaiting his first competitive goal for Chelsea, but that wait could well come to an end on Saturday. Werner’s quality isn’t in any doubt after scoring 28 Bundesliga goals last season and he’ll get plenty of opportunity to open his Chelsea account against a Baggies defence that have shipped ten goals in four competitive outings this season.

Unsurprisingly, a Chelsea win is a major part of our prediction here. West Brom have looked completely out of their depth so far and the Blues should make light work of them, but we’re also expecting plenty of goals. Each of Chelsea’s last eight top flight road trips have produced at least three goals and West Brom’s two outings so far this season have yielded ten goals, so backing Chelsea to win and over 2.5 goals looks excellent value.

The Blues have scored exactly three goals in three of their last four league away days too but, after failing to keep a clean sheet in each of their last 11 away days, a repeat of their 3-1 opening weekend victory is our choice for a correct score prediction.

West Brom injuries and team news

Former Chelsea star Branislav Ivanovic made his West Brom debut in midweek and could start against his former club here, while Conor Townsend will come in at left back to deputise for the suspended Kieran Gibbs.

Kamil Grosicki, Kenneth Zohore, Hal Robson-Kanu and Ahmed Hegazi are all expected to be sidelined through injury.

Chelsea injuries and team news

Hakim Ziyech’s injury means he will have to wait to make his Chelsea debut, but summer signings Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell both made theirs in midweek and will hope to break into the starting lineup on Saturday. Billy Gilmour is also ruled out, while Christian Pulisic remains a doubt.

New signing Edouard Mendy needs to pass a COVID-19 test before playing, but either him or Willy Caballero are expected to keep Kepa out of the side after his disaster against Liverpool.