Plymouth Argyle v West Bromwich Albion: Back bouncing Baggies at 5/2 | OneFootball

EFL Championship

Ryan Deeney previews Plymouth Argyle v West Bromwich Albion

The early Championship kick-off takes us to the South West as struggling Plymouth Argyle take on promotion-chasing West Bromwich Albion at Home Park...

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Plymouth Argyle v West Bromwich AlbionSaturday 1st February, 12:30Live on Sky Sports

Who can build on a good result?

Plymouth Argyle host West Bromwich Albion on the opening day of February with both sides hoping for morale-boosting wins under new management.

Miron Muslic is yet to taste victory since replacing Wayne Rooney in mid-January but he will have been buoyed by his team's effort at Sunderland last weekend as they look to close an ever-increasing gap between his side and those above them in the battle to avoid the drop.

Tony Mowbray enjoyed a positive weekend himself, picking up his first victory as Baggies boss in almost 15 years with a 5-1 thrashing of lowly Portsmouth to push them above Middlesbrough into 5th place.

Both bosses have enjoyed welcome receptions upon taking their respective jobs. Now it's time to put words into action and help their teams enjoy a prosperous second half of the Championship season.

Out with the old, in with the...old

West Brom are odds-on favourites to leave Home Park with all three points and it's understandable given their league positions. However, the Baggies enter the game having won one of their last 12 league games on the road - and that came at struggling Hull City back in mid-November.

Their underlying defensive numbers were often excellent under Carlos Corberan but they didn't create consistent opportunities in the final third and it's something Tony Mowbray will be looking to fix. He speaks of artists and soldiers in football and will want to bring more out of the former.

He has made a good start. The 3xG created against Portsmouth was their highest of the season, as was the 23 shots they aimed towards Stoke City's goal. Even in defeat at Middlesbrough, the Baggies managed 15 efforts at goal, the joint second most Boro have conceded this season. Accuracy was the problem on that occasion.

The directness and speed of the West Brom attack should fit nicely with Mowbray's management and he will hope for more against a Plymouth side that have endured huge defensive struggles this season.

Argyle relying on Muslic magic

Miron Muslic has taken on arguably the toughest task of any Championship manager.

Plymouth sit bottom of the table, have the worst underlying numbers in the division, have parted company with their long-serving Director of Football, sold Morgan Whittaker and Muslic spent his pre-match talking up bodies entering the building to help them survive.

The Ex-Cercle Brugge boss has chopped and changed in a bid to find a successful formula and will hope he has landed on something with the draw at Sunderland. However, feeble displays at home against Queens Park Rangers and Burnley (2.8 and 2.9xG conceded respectively) showcased that there is no magic fix for their long-term problems.

At this point, I'm not confident in suggesting Plymouth have turned a corner. They have conceded 62 goals this season and at least 1xG in all but five matches. There is a very strong likelihood that they concede on Saturday afternoon, and probably more than once.

Their best hope statistically is that West Brom are 1) yet to prove they can create consistent chances on the road and 2) top of the BTTS chart away from home having seen both sides find the net in 11 of their 15 away outings. Plymouth have also only failed to score in three home matches this season. They may lose, but they could do so with a bit of a fight.

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