View: 100% defensive duels won – West Brom 29y/o shines in Sheff Utd win
West Brom midfielder Romaine Sawyers’ outstanding performance has seemingly gone under the radar as he helped his side to a first Premier League win of the season.
Sawyers played 100 minutes as the Baggies beat Sheffield United 1-0 on Saturday evening to finally collect their first three-point haul of the season.
It was the 29-year-old’s second consecutive start after struggling to hold down a place in Slaven Bilic’s side in the early stages of the season.
If he continues to perform as he did against the Blades then Bilic will have no option but to keep starting him.
The stats show just how good Sawyers was against Sheffield United.
According to Wyscout, Sawyers won 100% of his defensive duels and 100% of his aerial duels as he dominated on the ground and in the air against the Blades’ attack.
The former Saint Kitts and Nevis international also registered two interceptions and three recoveries with very little getting past Sawyers as he popped up all over the pitch helping his teammates out.
The heatmap above shows that Sawyers was able to influence the game in an attacking and defensive sense as he appeared all over the midfield.
The really encouraging aspect of Sawyers’ performance was the excellent range of passing the 29-year-old showed against Sheffield United.
According to Wyscout, Sawyers registered an 89% passing accuracy with 90% of his passes into the final third finding their intended targets which demonstrates how the midfielder can help out his attacking teammates.
Sawyers was also successful with 75% of his total forward passes and 100% of his attempted through balls were successful which highlights just how impressive the Baggies midfielder was on Saturday evening.
It was an occasion for Albion players to stand up and be counted with Sam Johnstone, Conor Gallagher and Matheus Pereira receiving plaudits for their brilliant performances.
But Sawyers’ excellent performance should also receive the credit it deserves and hopefully, he can keep this form up over the coming weeks.
In other West Brom news, Bilic has branded a fellow Premier League manager as ‘selfish’ following his recent comments.
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