Thursday Football Tips: Go low on goals but back corners at the Hawthorns

West Brom v Sheff Utd
Thursday 11 August
20:00 BST kick-off

Two big sides with two decent squads clash in Thursday's Carabao Cup first-round tie, so even with plenty of changes there's still some decent quality on show.

Both West Brom and Sheffield United have promotion to the Premier League as their top priority this season - their only priority really - so while a cup run would be nice neither will shed a tear at going out of this competition early.

Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom is set to hand on-loan Man City midfielder James McAtee his debut, while follow loanee Reda Khadra could get a start alongside him.

Like Heckingbottom, Steve Bruce will make plenty of changes but both men insist their teams will be strong enough to get through.

Baggies boss Bruce has already said he'll start summer signing Okay Yokuslu in midfield, with Callum Robinson, Alex Palmer, Kyle Bartley, Adam reach and Alex Mowatt all set to feature.

So, the team selection is everything here when looking at player props, with a prime example being veteran Blades striker Billy Sharp - who scored twice against West Brom last season.

This should be just the sort of game to play Sharp, but he's only just returned from a lengthy injury so may only be fit enough for the bench.

For the match itself, games with plenty of changes in these early round games are often messy games with not many goals, so we'll happily take the under 2.5 goals here.

They'll also take time to get their acts together so the half-time draw also makes great appeal.

I'd wait for the team-sheet before committing on the player markets - but corners looks like an area we can exploit.

Yes, there'll be changes but both sides still know their systems, and the teams will still be strong.

Both sides love a corner, as they won the fourth and fifth most in the Championship last season - with West Brom getting the third most at home and Sheff Utd the second-most away.

The Baggies had 12 corners against Watford at The Hawthorns just on Monday, and while they won't match that they could get halfway, with six home corners looking value at 2.255/4.

Throw in all three together for around a 5/1 Bet Builder option.