Sky Sports pundit David Prutton has predicted that Aston Villa will win the first leg of the play-off semi-final on Saturday 2-0.
The game plays out at Villa Park on Saturday lunchtime, with Villa the form team in the Championship at the moment.
And, writing in his regular column for Sky Sports, Prutton thinks that Dean Smith’s men will carry that into the play-offs.
“I think we can safely say this is going to be a cracker! Both of these sides have known they are going to be in the play-offs for a while – in fact for West Brom it seems like they have been fourth for most of the season – and it also seemed fairly certain for a while that they would be facing each other, so they have had plenty of time to prepare.
“Aston Villa are in the better form, despite dropping points in their tough two final games of the season. For both teams there is plenty of firepower in attack but I just think Dean Smith’s side are the more complete team. I reckon they will win and give the Baggies a bit of a mountain to climb in the second leg.”
OPINION
We absolutely can’t wait for the play-offs and we can’t remember the last time the Championship threw up a set of matches this good. Aston Villa v West Brom has it all and we’re expecting a full-blooded derby game, with a ridiculous amount on the line. Aston Villa have been the form team recently, with a club-record 10 wins-in-a-row, but that will go out of the window tomorrow in the cauldron of Villa Park. West Brom have the firepower to hurt anyone and we’re expecting a really tight game. We think the advantage of playing the home leg second will work for West Brom and that Villa need a lead to take there next week. We think they might just shade it on Saturday but we think West Brom will find the back of the net. Away goals don’t count in the play-offs, though, so it will just be the aggregate score that decides whether the tie will be go to extra-time and penalties at the Hawthornes.