West Bromwich Albion are fifth in the league whilst now-managerless Sunderland are without a win in their last three games. The following five players have been standout for West Brom this season and we should probably keep an eye on them today…
JOSH MAJA
This man hasn’t been a star player for the Baggies this season after signing from Bordeaux in the summer, but we had to include him because of his obvious ties to Sunderland. To make matters worse, he scored his first goal for WBA last weekend against Leicester and manager Carlos Corberan has hinted that Maja may make his first start on Saturday. So far the Nigerian international striker has played nine times for West Brom. He also has previous experience in England with Fulham and Stoke City.
Of course, we all know he’s a natural finisher and if we hadn’t sold him in that infamous January, we’d have probably been promoted out of League One at the first time of asking. Alas, we can’t change the past but let's hope it doesn’t come back to haunt us - as it always does…
JOHN SWIFT
West Brom’s top scorer this season (six) is John Swift - and he’s perhaps their biggest creative outlet. He scored a penalty against us last season at the Hawthorns, and was excellent at the reverse fixture at the SoL (you may remember this for being one of the coldest matches you’d ever been to). It seems that if you want to beat the Baggies, it’s crucial that Swift can’t find space in the centre of the pitch. A product of Chelsea’s academy, the 28 year old has played for the likes of Rotherham, Swindon, Brentford and Reading and made the switch to today’s opponents at the start of last season. The attacking midfielder has featured for the Baggies 63 times, finding the net on 13 occasions.
ALEX PALMER
West Brom’s keeper is 27-year-old Alex Palmer. He’s been with the club since 2015 but only made his debut in 2021, after impressing in several loan spells with the likes of Lincoln and Plymouth. He’s a really solid shot-stopper and has managed an impressive nine clean sheets in 19 Championship matches so far this season. His last promotion (and indeed only promotion) came in 2020 when he helped Plymouth Argyle to automatic promotion to League One in third place. Born in Kidderminster, Palmer has so far played 45 times for our visitors.
CONOR TOWNSEND
Townsend is a left-back, but can also be pushed up the pitch to be used as a left midfielder. The 30 year old started his career with Hull City and was sent out on an array of loan spells to Grimsby, Chesterfield, Carlisle United, Dundee United, Scunthorpe United and then Grimsby again. He would find a permanent home at one of his former loan clubs, Scunthorpe in 2016. Conor spent two years with the Iron, then departing for West Brom. He is fast approaching 200 appearances with them, 186 currently and has also chipped in with four goals (so expect him to no doubt find the net today). Townsend also has some Premier League experience, helping his current club to promotion in 2020; and the only other promotion of his career came in 2016 to League Two with Grimsby Town. Put simply he is highly experienced and should cause our often chaotic attacks some problems.
ALEX MOWATT
Mowatt has been with West Brom since 2021 but spent last season out on loan with Middlesbrough. He is most comfortable as a defensive midfielder but can also play in a more central role. Beginning his career in 2004 at the age of nine with Leeds, he’d go on to play 125 times for the Yorkshire giants, being named their Young Player of the Year and Player of the Year in back to back seasons. In 2017 he made a permanent switch to Barnsley where he’d feature 156 times and help them to automatic promotion to the Championship in 2019. The 28 year old moved to West Brom in 2021 but after his first season he struggled for game time, so a successful loan spell to Middlesbrough was much needed last campaign. Since then he’s really kicked on for West Brom, turning out for them 18 times so far this season, with a nice bonus of one goal and two assists.
