Ryan Darby

Tue 8 December 2020 21:15, UK

Sunday’s 5-1 defeat to Crystal Palace was a difficult day for everybody involved in West Brom, none more so than Matheus Pereira.

The Brazilian dominated the headlines for all the wrong reasons after seeing red in the latter stages of the first half.

Just minutes after Albion got themselves level through Conor Gallagher, no sooner were they down to 10 men.

After clashing with Patrick van Aanholt – albeit seemingly unintentionally – Pereira kicked out at the Dutchman as he tumbled on the ground.

While it was no doubt painful for the Palace defender, there was no real reaction from either side and it took a VAR review for the Albion star to be sent off.

A tough lesson for Pereira

Various pundits and fans have had their say on the matter and what could have been done differently, but it was perhaps best summarised by Adrian Goldberg, host of The Liquidator Podcast.

Speaking on The Liquidator (07/12/2020), Goldberg said: “I don’t think it was malicious, it was petulant. It was foolish of Pereira and he should know better. But the referee, you’d like to think could’ve exercised a bit of discretion there.”

Now, Albion will have to manage without the player that pulled them up from the Championship last season for three games.

As one of, if not, the most important player in Slaven Bilic’s squad, he has been the man fans and players have often turned to for moments of brilliance this season.

With the Baggies sitting 19th in the Premier League table, the pressure is now mounting on Bilic to turn things around quickly.

It has been reported that the Croatian has just one game to save his job and he’ll have to do so without his most valuable player.

Pereira played some of the best football of his burgeoning career under Bilic last season, where he registered 28 direct goal contributions in the Championship, but it’s not unrealistic to think that he may have played his last game for the Croatian.

In other West Brom news, Baggies star is suddenly the odd one out under Bilic