Daniel Lewis

Sat 12 August 2023 17:07, UK

Semi Ajayi earned praise from Sky Sports pundit Alan McInally for his “fantastic” goal for West Brom in their 3-2 win against Swansea City.

Ajayi fired home an 18th-minute opener for Albion in Saturday’s [12 August] showdown at The Hawthorns after Swansea failed to deal with a throw-in and the ball was flicked on into his path.

McInally was impressed by the manner of Ajayi’s finish – a goal that would have been made all the more sweeter given the defender’s time with Swansea’s fierce rivals Cardiff City.

“It’s a big goal,” McInally said [12 August, Sky Sports, 15:21).

“There were a couple of headers to keep it alive, a brilliant header from Erik Pieters, and it falls to Semi Ajayi, the big centre-halve who rifles it full on the volley past the goalkeeper. Fantastic goal for the big man.”

Off the mark

Ajayi was a fairly prolific scorer earlier in his Championship career – by a defender’s standards, at least – as he scored 12 goals combined across the 2018-19 and 2019-20 campaigns with Rotherham United and West Brom respectively [Soccerway].

The former Arsenal prospect has found goals harder to come by in more recent seasons, though he still netted five times across the past three second-tier campaigns.

As he showed with the clinical nature of his finish against Swansea, the tall centre-back certainly knows how to put away a chance when the ball falls to him inside the box.

West Brom will need all the goals they can get this campaign if they are to challenge for promotion, and on the basis of last season that should not be a problem, given they were the sixth-highest scoring team in the division [FBref].

After scoring only two goals across their opening two games of the 2023-24 campaign against Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City – in the Championship and EFL Cup respectively – Carlos Corberan will welcome Ajayi’s latest contribution.

In other West Brom news, the Baggies are reportedly interested in a season-long loan move for Benfica forward Tiago Gouveia.