‘I always knew he would be a star’ – Micah Richards wowed by ‘Exceptional’ West Brom player
Former Aston Villa defender Michah Richards has paid tribute to Sam Johnstone after the goalkeeper play a huge role in West Brom’s first win of the season on Saturday.
Albion moved themselves out of the Premier League’s bottom three with a 1-0 victory over 20th-placed Sheffield United at The Hawthorns.
Conor Gallagher scored the only goal of the game in the first half but it was Johnstone’s performance in between the sticks that had everyone in awe yet again.
“I was with him at Aston Villa. I always knew he would be a star,” said Richards on BBC One’s Match of the Day on Saturday night.
“He was unlucky to leave Man United at the wrong time but he was exceptional again [on Saturday] and he was exceptional against Man United last week.”
According to stats by WyScout, Johnstone made six saves against the Blades and he had use his reflexes to keep out four of the away side’s shots.
Only one goalkeeper in Europe’s top five leagues has made more saves than the former Aston Villa and Manchester United shot-stopper [48] this season while no goalkeeper has faced more shots than the Baggies man [66].
Newcastle’s Karl Darlow leads the way in the Premier League for prevented goals [5.56] but Johnstone is just behind him with 5.49 goals prevented so far this season.
They are really astonishing numbers, especially when West Brom have already played some top sides in the Premier League this season.
Johnstone is a man in great form and we hope he’s able to carry that throughout the entire season so Slaven Bilic’s side can secure Premier League safety.
In other West Brom news, Bilic has held crunch talks with this 23-year-old amid speculation surrounding his short-term future at the club.
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