West Brom must have thought they’d dramatically clinched a share of the points at the Hawthorns when Josh Maja scored late on, the summer signing from France instinctively firing home after a mix-up in the Leicester City box to make it 1-1 in the 89th-minute.
Harry Winks for the visitors however wasn’t playing to the script, racing through after West Brom left a lack of defenders back from a counterattack to then prod home an inch-perfect Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall sweeping pass at the death to make it 2-1.
Carlos Corberan’s focus now will switch to bouncing back immediately from this devastating defeat when the Baggies play Sunderland this coming Saturday, the Black Cats going through a recent rough patch in the division with no wins from their last three Championship games.
The Spanish manager in the Baggies dug-out could switch up his side for the lunchtime kick-off away at the Black Cats, with Brandon Thomas-Asante one potential casualty from the manager’s starting eleven after a below-par showing versus the Foxes.
Brandon Thomas-Asante’s game vs Leicester in numbers
Thomas-Asante won’t want to dwell on his performance in the Leicester loss for too long, upstaged by substitute Maja who scored what was the all-important equalising goal at the time despite only being on the pitch for 15 minutes.
The former Salford City man was toothless on the other hand during his full 90 minutes on the pitch, only amassing 19 touches in the game – as per Sofascore – with the contest passing him by.
The 25-year-old only registered two shots on goal during the whole game too, with both efforts failing to really threaten Mads Hermansen in the opposing net.
The 5 foot 11 striker was also weak when it came to competing for duels at the Hawthorns, losing 83.33% of his attempted duels with Wout Faes and Jannick Vestergaard completely unfazed by the Baggies number 21 all game at the back for the visitors.
It led to Birmingham Live journalist Joseph Chapman handing out a shoddy 5/10 rating for Thomas-Asante’s performance in a player ratings article after the game, stating that the attacker looked visibly ‘frustrated’ by his second-rate offering.
Maja could well be given a start ahead of Thomas-Asante therefore for the trip up to the Stadium of Light, the 24-year-old striker eager to add another goal to his Baggies account up against the club where his professional career took flight.
Josh Maja’s game vs Leicester in numbers
Maja was a livewire from the minute he stepped onto the pitch against Enzo Maresca’s side, not needing an awful lot of time to leave a lasting impact.
The 24-year-old only needed four touches of the ball to get his goal at the weekend, pinball in the box working in West Brom’s favour before Maja fired home to make Leicester pay for their collective defensive indecision.
It was a long time coming for the forward after injury issues at the start of the season plagued his early Baggies career.
Yet, teammate Thomas-Asante still praised the striker’s “amazing” ability in an interview with Birmingham Live during these early season struggles – “We all know Josh’s ability in the Premier League and Ligue 1 in France, but he’s come with a pedigree and he’s an amazing player.”
Signed on a free transfer deal in the summer to bolster the attacking positions at West Brom, Maja has shown flickers here and there before this long-awaited first goal of what he’s capable of.
The former Sunderland man nearly opened the deadlock from off the bench against Bristol City in September, Maja’s one effort on goal blocked however to the dismay of the one-time Nigeria international and the Baggies fans watching on at Ashton Gate.
Yet to start a game from the off in his new surroundings, Maja could be afforded his first-ever start this coming weekend against Sunderland in a change that Corberan hopes results in a victory up against a tricky Black Cats team.
