'Completely transformed the Baggies': Sky pundit gushes over Jan deal, predicts winner v Sheff U
Sky Sports pundit Lewis Jones has predicted an absolutely vital away win for West Brom in tonight's potentially season-defining game against Sheffield United.
He claimed that new striker signing Mbaye Diagne (despite getting his name wrong) has "completely transformed" West Brom.
He thinks the game will end 2-1 to West Brom in what has been described as a must-win by Sam Allardyce.
Writing in his Sky Sports column Jones said, "The introduction of Mbaye Niang [sic] at half time against Fulham completely transformed the Baggies.
"He led the line brilliantly, linking with the very dangerous Matheus Pereira and created three chances for his teammates in 45 minutes. I'd say with those two in tandem, they carry the greater attacking threat of these two teams."
Jones claims that West Brom will also take advantage of the Blades' weakness from set-pieces, with Semi Ajayi and Kyle Bartley being given "licence to go forward from every set piece or long-throw ".
Too big to lose
We'll forgive Jones getting Diagne's name wrong after being the only pundit we've seen so far who's predicted an away win.
It's rough that we're in a situation in early February where we're talking about "must-win" games but that's where we are.
Allardyce confirmed it when he said that two points against two of our relegation rivals wouldn't be enough, especially with Brighton winning and pulling away from the bottom three.
Diagne made an immediate impact on his debut and should be in line for his first start tonight.
In the end, January business was good, with Okay Yokuslu and Ainsley Maitland-Niles joining Diagne and Robert Snodgrass.
Unfortunately, the game tonight probably comes too soon for Yokuslu and Maitland-Niles, but we think that we'll have enough without them.
The game is too big to lose and we think we'll see the first sign of the Big Sam side that will aim to pull off a big escape.
In other West Brom news, this Sky Sports pundit is puzzled by the situation surrounding a "creative force" who Albion signed.