‘Absolute player’ – Nigel Quashie blown away by one West Brom star v Sheffield United
Former West Brom midfielder Nigel Quashie has lauded Matheus Pereira after his excellent personal display against Sheffield United.
Pereira helped his side to a 1-0 win over the Blades on Saturday night as the Baggies picked up their first league win of the season.
Quashie replied to a club tweet about the Brazilian and clearly showed how impressed he was with the 24-year-old’s display.
Quashie tweeted, “Absolute player”, followed by an emoji that suggests the former Albion man was shocked by Pereira’s performance.
The Brazilian was excellent and ran rings around the Blades defence creating nine chances which is more than any other player has managed in one Premier League game this season.
A deeper dive into Pereira’s stats show that when he is at his best, as he was on Saturday, he can be a real asset to Slaven Bilic.
According to Wyscout, Pereira registered an 89% passing accuracy against the Blades while making four progressive runs during his 100 minutes on the pitch.
The winger is averaging 2.18 progressive runs per game in the Premier League this season which means he doubled his usual tally against Chris Wilder’s side.
Pereira also doubled up on his touches in the opposition penalty area as he usually registers 2.11 touches per 90 minutes but he registered four touches against the Blades.
Pereira hasn’t been at his best for a few games this season but he certainly looks to have recovered his form and he may be improving just at the right time for Albion.
As Quashie said, Pereira can be an ‘absolute player’ on his day. He just needs to do it on a more regular basis.
In other West Brom news, Slaven Bilic has discussed his surprise at how good one of his players has proved to be.
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