View: West Brom teen impressed v Newcastle but should still be dropped Saturday
Rekeem Harper can hold his head up high for his performances since returning to the West Brom starting line-up while Romaine Sawyers has been suspended.
The 19-year-old made his first league start of the season when he completed 90 minutes in the 2-0 win against Preston last week before lasting less than an hour in the loss against Wigan at the weekend.
Harper’s performance dipped in the loss to Wigan but there was hardly anyone who stood out in that game and it’s better to rate the midfielder based on his displays versus Preston and, most recently, Newcastle.
Harper was one of Albion’s better performers in their 3-2 defeat to the Magpies in the FA Cup on Tuesday night.
According to stats by WhoScored, he completed 89 per cent of his passes – second-best out of West Brom’s starters – and also made four dribbles.
The teenager also made two tackles and one interception, doing the midfield dirty work off the ball as well as doing well while in possession.
WyScout shows that Harper’s stats against Newcastle were mostly better than his season average.
Harper completed 75 per cent of the dribbles he attempted when his season average is 58.3 per cent. 78 per cent of his passes into the final third were successful, up from 77.1 per cent and he won 67 per cent of his defensive duels, up from 62.1 per cent.
As good as Harper was against Newcastle, the teenager still has to face the reality that he’s likely to get dropped by Slaven Bilic this weekend for West Brom’s trip to Swansea in the Championship.
Sawyers’ suspension is now over, meaning that the former Brentford playmaker is able to return to the Baggies’ midfield after a lengthy rest.
Harper has also started three matches in the last eight days, so there’s a good chance he will also need a break.
He didn’t seem as though he did against Newcastle but for someone who’s not played that often this season, that run of starts is bound to have tired him.
In other West Brom news, Kevin Phillips claims this defender was “rusty” against Newcastle.