View: West Brom must be wary of serious QPR threat who could be major obstacle to PL hopes
The stakes could not be any higher for West Brom on Wednesday evening.
If Slaven Bilic’s men can beat QPR at The Hawthorns, they will be a Premier League team next season.
In one sense, it’s a very simple task, but that’s not to say that the R’s can’t throw a spanner in the works.
This is a side who put four past Millwall on Saturday and who, in Eberechi Eze, have one of the finest young talents in the Championship.
The 22-year-old has 13 goals and eight assists to his name this season, as well as a Whoscored rating of 7.36 – an average only bettered by Matheus Pereira and Brentford ace Said Benrahma.
And there’s no doubting that Albion will have to be very wary of the threat that he poses when the two sides meet tomorrow.
Eze has completed 6.1% more dribbles than Pereira this season, as well as having a higher pass completion rate, a higher xG, and a higher total action success rate, as per Wyscout.
In short, he is a danger man, and one that could be a serious hurdle to West Brom’s Premier League ambitions.
Take his goal against Preston North End back in March as an example.
Eze is just entering the frame at the bottom of the imagine above.
At this stage, he is still fairly close to his defender, but over the next 25 yards, he does a brilliant job of evading his man.
By subtly peeling off at the back post, Eze opens up a real chasm for himself, and by the time the ball is played, he is in acres of space.
It’s in this sort of area where the playmaker is most dangerous too.
Facing goal, plenty of turf in front of him, he can make himself into an absolute nightmare for defenders.
And so he proves here.
Eze approaches his man, forcing him to back off as he enters the box.
When he feels he is in range, he deftly shifts the ball just a fraction away from his body, and lines up the shot.
What’s clever here is that he uses his defender as a marker to bend his effort around.
This blindsides the keeper a little, and also allows Eze to get the necessary whip and curl on the ball to find the bottom corner.
It’s a high quality finish from a high quality player, and if West Brom are to navigate Wednesday’s clash against QPR without any issues, they have to find a way of stopping Eze.
He could be the only obstacle standing between Albion and a spot in the Premier League next season.
In other West Brom news, Hal Robson-Kanu has sent a message to this Leeds player after Albion’s loss handed the Whites promotion.
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