West Bromwich Albion made it three consecutive wins as they ran out 2-1 victors over Reading at the Madjeski Stadium. Despite falling behind to a penalty they rallied and showed their quality to turn things around and increase their lead at the top of the Championship.
Although Reading showed plenty of effort and endeavour they always looked a level below the league leaders and Albion’s quality eventually showed as they played with real intensity in the second half.
Here we take a look at three things about West Brom that we learnt following the encounter:
THE WOBBLE APPEARS TO BE OVER
West Brom suffered a blip during December and January and their once sizeable lead over third place was effectively gone due to their poor form. However, three wins on the bounce against Luton Town, Millwall and Reading has seemingly put that wobble to bed. February couldn’t have gone much better for Slaven Bilic’s side and although the three teams they have played aren’t really promotion contenders, Albion have fought and battled their way to three points in each of them – the sign of champions you may say.
PEREIRA ONCE AGAIN SHOWS HE’S A CLASS ABOVE
Matheus Pereira has been hailed by many as the best player in the Championship and on last night’s performance it’s hard to disagree. Calm and composed on the ball with an eye for goal and with pace and trickery in abundance, the Brazilian on his day, is simply a class above in this division. He scored the first goal as he stroked home the rebound and he linked up well once again with Krovinovic, Robinson and Robson-Kanu. With the ball at his feet he can be quite devastating at times and has to be one of the signings of the season.
JANUARY TRANSFERS MAKING ALL THE DIFFERENCE
Although we are yet to see Lee Peltier feature for the Baggies, Callum Robinson and Kamil Grosicki have made a real difference to this West Brom team. Robinson in particular has been the ideal replacement for Grady Diangana who is sidelined with injury. His pace and shooting ability has really caught the eye in his first three appearances for the club and he looks to be an astute signing by Slaven Bilic. Although Grosicki has had less game time so far he created the goal for O’Shea against Millwall and his cameos have shown he is a quality player at this level. Despite only adding three players in January, this could be the difference for Albion come the end of the season.
