Prediction & odds for the game: West Bromwich Albion (2/7) v Harrogate Town (10/1)

When: Wednesday, 16th September @ 6pm K.O

Where: The Hawthorns

Harrogate Town will attempt to cause an upset on Wednesday night when they travel to the Midlands to face West Bromwich Albion in the Carabao Cup.

West Brom

West Bromwich Albion are officially a Premier League club once again and while many are tipping them to head straight back down to the Championship, Slaven Bilic is more than good enough to ensure that doesn’t happen. Either way, the one benefit of the Carabao Cup taking place this year is the fact that it affords teams like the Baggies an opportunity to try and go on a bit of run. Firstly, though, they need to try and avoid what can only be described as a potential banana skin.

It’s safe to say West Brom stumbled over the finish line in their pursuit of promotion last season, but the hope from many is that they can steady the ship but they certainly didn’t do that this past weekend. They had a few moments of joy against Leicester, but in the end, they fell to a disappointing 3-0 defeat.

Harrogate

The Football League newcomers have already made a decent splash since their promotion into League 2 was confirmed, and something tells us that they aren’t done yet – not by a long shot. The Yorkshire-based club may be accused of arrogance or overconfidence by some, but now that they’ve been able to drag themselves out of non-league football, you’d have to imagine their momentum could take them on quite the journey over the next few years.

Ever since they beat Notts County 3-1 in the National League Playoff Final, Harrogate haven’t really had any time to stop. Just one month later they beat Tranmere on penalties in the first round of the Carabao Cup, they drew 2-2 with Grimsby Town in the EFL Trophy, and they absolutely battered Southend 4-0 in their opening League 2 outing.

Conclusion

The allure of any cup tie such as this one stems from the possibility of an upset taking place. It’s a top tier vs fourth tier encounter and quite literally anything can happen, but in this instance, we’re going to predict that the favourites will take home the victory. We think the Baggies will score first before being pegged back by an impressive Harrogate side, but when push comes to shove, the hosts will just about have enough to see themselves through to the next round.

We’re hoping the game features more than its fair share of drama, which is why we’re choosing to back the over 2.5 goals market. If nothing else, we know both teams are likely to go for it.

Verdict: Back the home at odds of 2/7 and the over 2.5 goals scored at odds of 7/10 (All odds are taken from bet365).

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