Highlights
- West Brom look set to challenge for promotion in the Championship, with a strong run of form and the potential to beat table-toppers Leicester City.
- Grady Diangana’s underwhelming performance against Cardiff may lead to him being dropped from the starting lineup, with Jeremy Sarmiento impressing as his replacement.
- John Swift’s return from injury provides a selection dilemma for the manager, with the option of playing him in the attacking midfield position and potentially improving their chances of victory.
West Bromwich Albion are on an impressive run in the Championship at the moment, the Baggies picking up a fifth win from their last six matches after a narrow away victory at Cardiff City mid-week.
Carlos Corberan’s Baggies could really show they mean business in the lunch-time kick-off today if they were to beat Enzo Maresca’s table-topping Leicester City however, stamping their authority on the league in the process as a genuine promotion contender.
The Spanish boss could however spring a surprise with his team selection for the crunch match against the Foxes, even potentially dropping Grady Diangana from his starting eleven after the Baggies forward underwhelmed at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Grady Diangana’s game in numbers versus Cardiff City
West Brom teammate Jed Wallace labelled Diangana as an “unbelievable” talent last season after an explosive start to the campaign, which the former West Ham United man can be on his day.
Unfortunately, the silky forward regularly blows hot and cold like the most entertaining players can.
The attacking midfielder’s display versus the Bluebirds was lacklustre, hauled off by his manager just after the hour mark after a poor display going forward.
Diangana would only amass 26 touches in total in a bid to strike fear into the Bluebirds defence, as per Sofascore, unable to create chances for his side.
Jeremy Sarmiento would step up to the plate for Corberan’s away team instead, arrowing a beautiful strike into the back of the net early into the second half to break the deadlock and help his side overcome a resilient Cardiff 1-0.
Diangana – on the other hand – failed to even have one shot in the game to test the Bluebirds goalkeeper. The ex-Hammers man also failed to win any of his duels in the game, bullied by the Cardiff defence.
The 25-year-old’s substitute replacement in youngster Tom Fellows even managed to win a single duel despite only playing for 25 minutes – upstaging the Congolese attacker who will now be fearful his position is up for grabs against the Foxes.
Fellows might not start in place of Diangana from the get-go despite a tenacious cameo off the bench, with plenty of options for Corberan to ponder over to replace his underwhelming number 11.
The players who could replace Grady Diangana
Corberan will be delighted that he has John Swift back fit and ready for action with this selection dilemma popping up, the popular Baggies boss could play the former Reading man in his preferred number ten role ahead of Diangana.
Swift has scored four goals from six starts in that attacking midfield spot this season, Corberan tempted to unleash Swift in that role again after playing him as a sole striker against Cardiff last time out.
This switch in personnel could spur the Baggies on to a win against Leicester, the Foxes not expecting Diangana to be dropped as he can create magic from nothing even if he does have a quiet 90 minutes.
Swift will hope he can get his seventh goal of the season if moved into this attacking midfield role, potentially scoring a decisive goal that helps the Baggies pick up another three points to mount pressure on the regimented top two in the Championship.
