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Sky Sports pundit David Prutton has tipped West Bromwich Albion for victory over their bitter rivals Aston Villa at Villa Park on Saturday.

What he said

In his regular EFL predictions column, Prutton has given his verdict on how events will unfold in the Midlands derby this weekend. 

Having fallen to defeat against Brentford last time out, the Villans will be eager to return to winning ways as soon as possible. However, Prutton believes that it will “have hurt Dean Smith a lot to be beaten on his return to Griffin Park in midweek.”

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If Aston Villa can’t recover in time from this blow to take on the Baggies then, despite the home advantage being with Villa, West Brom will fancy their chances. Prutton clearly fancies them too, stating “this will be a tight game but I reckon the Baggies will nick the three points.”

A win for Darren Moore’s side would see them maintain their push for automatic promotion. Defeat for Villa would cause their hopes of making the play-offs to fade further and increase the pressure on Smith.

Big performance needed

Unfortunately, for Villa fans, West Brom are probably the more likely side to claim all three points on Saturday. The Baggies possess tremendous quality in their squad and will be determined to make up for having dropped points against Stoke City and Nottingham Forest recently.

Smith will need a big performance from his side to get all three points, but given that it’s a derby clash he’d hope that his squad are raring to go out there and prove the doubters wrong.