This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

FLW's West Bromwich Albion fan pundit Matt believes his side won't take any points back to The Hawthorns this Saturday, as they face a tough opening day tie against Middlesbrough.

The Baggies, however, have made some shrewd additions with John Swift, Jed Wallace and Okay Yokuslu all being hailed as magnificent signings by many - with all three arguably capable of playing in the Premier League.

Albion struggled in front of goal last term and that proved to be detrimental to their hopes of securing a top-six finish, so the additions of Swift and Wallace could be particularly useful for Steve Bruce's side with the duo recording a total of 17 goals and 25 assists combined in the second tier last term.

Boro have also been reasonably productive in the summer window though, with the likes of Zack Steffen, Ryan Giles and Darragh Lenihan standing out as exceptional signings at this level.

They will be hoping to secure their place in the promotion mix during the 2022/23 campaign after a promising start to life under their boss Chris Wilder, addressing a couple of key positions since then and looking in reasonably good shape going into this weekend.

With this, FLW's West Brom fan pundit Matt from the WBA Report believes his side won't be able to take anything away from Teesside.

He said: "For a prediction for Saturday, I must say I've just come off a live stream with Alfie (Burns) and I mentioned I'm not confident whatsoever.

"I do think that we'll struggle at Middlesbrough. With Chris Wilder, we saw how well he sets up the team and they improved as the season grew on last year and they were unlucky to miss out on a play-off place.

"I'm going to go with 2-1 Middlesbrough. I hope I'm wrong, I'd love to be wrong, but I'll go 2-1 with goals from Duncan Watmore, (Marcus) Tavernier - and Daryl Dike will score for Albion."

The Verdict:

Since Albion's fan pundit spoke to FLW, Tavernier has edged closer to a move to AFC Bournemouth and that could potentially have an impact on the scoreline, because his departure would be a blow for Wilder's side.

In fairness, they have Riley McGree who could step up and do a good job for the Teesside outfit, but Tavernier's absence will be felt regardless and this is why the Baggies can approach the weekend with more optimism.

Boro's defeat against Hull City last term shows they aren't invincible at home and this is something Bruce's side could capitalise on, with the hosts' current lack of forwards also a concern for Wilder.

Even if they see a couple of new strikers arrive before Saturday, it may take them a while to settle in and they may not even be involved, so you feel Albion should be able to keep things reasonably tight at the back with Tavernier also likely to be missing.

Following a poor 2021/22 campaign for the Baggies though, you can understand why Matt is pessimistic because this upcoming game will still probably be one of their toughest of the season.