View: Chart-topping West Brom star only bright light in defeat v Crystal Palace
It was an afternoon to forget for Slaven Bilic and West Brom on Sunday, as the Baggies lost 5-1 to Crystal Palace at The Hawthorns, but on-loan Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher was a rare shining light in an otherwise disappointing display.
Gallagher scored his second goal in as many games to draw the Baggies level against Roy Hodgson’s side, but an onslaught from Palace in the second half saw the away side run out comfortable winners in the end.
Making only his seventh start in the West Brom side, the Chelsea youngster looked comfortable and appears to have made the step up to Premier League football with relative ease.
Given a 7.09 match rating by WhoScored, Gallagher outperformed his team-mates by some distance, with the likes of Karlam Grant, Matt Phillips, Darnell Furlong and Kyle Bartley all awarded a rating of just 6.7 as the midfielder’s nearest rival.
During the 5-1 defeat, only Bartley could better Gallagher in terms of touches of the ball, while the latter also enjoyed an impressive 91% pass success rate.
The performance against Palace represents a good run of form for Gallagher, who was the match-winner against Sheffield United last time out. In four of his seven appearances for the Baggies, he has achieved a WhoScored match rating of 7.03 or higher.
Gallagher is now the club’s joint-top goalscorer in the Premier League and that eye for goal could become even more valuable in the games to come following Matheus Pereira’s red card against Crystal Palace.
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