Swansea City vs WBA Preview: xG, ppda, challenge intensity and more – what do the stats say? | OneFootball

Swansea City host West Bromwich Albion at Swansea.com Stadium on Wednesday for the matchday 13 clash in the EFL Championship.

We look at a few stats to predict the match.

A 3-0 win over Cardiff City last weekend has seen Swansea climb up to 17th in the league. With a good run of form and two wins in the last four matches, Russell Martin’s men are hoping to continue this ascent in the league and aim for higher and better things. The hosting of West Brom will certainly be a tricky fixture given that the Baggies are one of the favourites to gain a Premier League promotion. Though dazzling with confidence, the Swans with the home support will love to do something shocking.

Swansea have scored 12 goals this season from an xG of 10.98, the fourth-lowest in the league but have slightly overperformed their metric. The Swans have considerably struggled to get a lot of goals but do possess a pretty solid defence. They have conceded 14 goals so far, yet only one of them in the recent four outings keeping three clean sheets. Up against a good attack, their defence is going to be the key behind a potential upset.

West Brom came back strongly after their defeat against Stoke City few weeks back, beating Birmingham City at home 1-0. Thus, they have been clung on to the second position with 25 points in the table. A win this Wednesday can take them to the top of the table and Valerien Ismael and the team would definitely aim that against Swansea knowing it’s very much achievable.

The Baggies have the second-best xG metric in the league of 21.84 and have scored 21 goals as well. They have three of their last four encounters scoring seven goals in the process. Alongside having such an efficient attack, West Brom has only let in nine goals boasting one of the best defences in the league, registering two clean sheets in their last two wins.

West Brom have the lowest ppda in the league of 6.817 which shows that they do not let other teams spend a lot of time on the ball before the press to get it back and engage in a defensive action. They also have the highest average challenge intensity in the league which ensures they are the most actively pressing team and quickly close spaces before the opponent can move around the ball. This is going to be an interesting battle with the Swans who love to dominate possession and play a lot of passes to create attacks.

Swansea have a league average ppda of 10.233 which can certainly give a lot of time to a team like West Brom who can very well do quick transitions in attack.

Both teams most likely will have all of their players available for selection before the match.

We predict a 1-2 victory for West Brom.