West Bromwich Albion are in danger of falling out of the playoff positions in the Championship now after their first defeat in seven in the difficult division popped up away at Norwich City.
Goal difference is the Baggies’ best friend currently in sixth spot, with the likes of Middlesbrough and Bristol City breathing down the necks of Tony Mowbray’s men to try and leap into the second tier’s nervy lottery at the expense of the West Midlands outfit.
Mowbray will just pray that his key West Brom personnel can step up to the mark when needed between now and the close of the regular season, with Baggies managers of the past such as Slaven Bilic relying on the magic of Brazilian superstar Matheus Pereira to seal promotion.
Pereira's promotion heroics at West Brom
The second-tier high-flyers hit instant gold when snapping up Pereira on an initial loan deal back in 2019 as the South American ace made the Championship his very own playground.
Indeed, the one-time senior Brazil international would light up the notoriously strenuous league with top-drawer display after top-drawer display, leading to a mammoth 28 goal contributions coming his way across 43 total contests in that debut year.
Promotion was won automatically off the back of the now 28-year-old’s sublime heroics, with Pereira then going to solidfy himself as a Premier League-calibre performer with 11 goals and six assists picked up from 33 top-flight clashes.
Mowbray doesn’t quite possess such flashy options at his disposal at the moment – away from the likes of assist king Tom Fellows perhaps – but there is one face in the West Brom camp who could be the side’s best purchase since the golden days of Pereira, even as he remains injured.
West Brom's best signing since Pereira
Mowbray re-entered the building back in January with a sizable injury issue troubling him, considering he would have been told to help his new outfit win promotion even with a star player sidelined.
The star player is, of course, Josh Maja, who has found himself out of the West Brom first-team set-up for an agonising 14 games now after suffering a nasty lower leg injury that has since required surgery.
This has been a bitter pill for Mowbray and Co to swallow with the ex-Sunderland striker a man possessed in front of goal before this horrible setback, with Maja up to a stunning 12 goals and two assists from 26 Championship contests before January’s heartbreaking development.
Further lauded as a “special” talent by former West Brom boss Carlos Corberan before his departure to Valencia, it did feel as if Maja’s goals alone could have been the kick the Baggies needed to consolidate a playoff spot, knowing that he can cause second tier defences all sorts of bother in the blink of an eye.
1. Josh Maja
26
12
2
2. Tom Fellows
38
2
11
= 3. Alex Mowatt
36
6
2
= 3. Karlan Grant
36
6
2
5. Mikey Johnston
34
2
5
Despite missing large portions of the campaign, the injury-prone 26-year-old still finds himself proudly top of the goalscoring charts, with the decision to bring in Maja on a free transfer in the summer of 2023 more than paying off even if he finds himself stuck in the Hawthorns treatment room.
It could be argued, therefore, that he’s been the best bit of business conducted by West Brom since Pereira’s explosive arrival onto the scene, with a hope Maja can be back fit if his side reach the playoffs, having been ruled out now for the rest of the 46-game season.
If he can inspire that same promotion-winning feeling, memories of Pereira’s heroics would certainly come flooding back.
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