You BetWest Brom may upset Man United's march to Premier League title
Top-six team have a decent chance at cracking open Manchester's leaky defence at Old Trafford
One of the obstacles in the way of Manchester United's charge towards the English Premier League title might be the tougher run of home fixtures they face in the second half of the season and tonight brings the first of those when West Brom visit Old Trafford.
It is fair to say West Brom are a top-six side on merit at the halfway point of the season and one indicator of their new-found status is that they are joint-top of the mini-league between the top six sides with an average of 1.75 points per game - level with Everton in that category and ahead of the two Manchester clubs, Chelsea and Tottenham.
West Brom have lost only one out of four against the rest of the top six, whereas United have lost two out of four. The leaders have met only one top-six team at home and that ended in defeat (3-2 against Tottenham), which suggests they might have problems if their haphazard defending continues.
United have conceded 13 goals at Old Trafford, only six fewer than they let in at home during the whole of last season, and they have kept only two clean sheets in nine home games.
West Brom's strength is their form at the Hawthorns, but they have a good scoring record on the road and it is notable that they have lost only two out of 15 overall when scoring in the Premier League. That gives them a decent chance against United's leaky defence and the best bets are West Brom on the handicap and over 2.5 goals (10 of the 15 matches in which West Brom have scored have gone over that mark).
One of the best matches on tonight's programme is the early game between Sunderland and Tottenham. Martin O'Neill appears to have turned the corner with Sunderland, who have won three of their last four, and it is possible they could turn out to be a top-eight side. Tottenham are also bang on form, with only one defeat in nine since their 5-2 derby loss at Arsenal, and they set up well as a counter-attacking away side, which explains why only United have scored more away goals.