This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
West Bromwich Albion’s promotion flight has taken on a dumbfounded level this week after they trounced Bristol City 4-1 at the Hawthorns to open up a seven-point gap to third place.
It means the Baggies still have only lost one match this season, and that they still occupy that top spot despite all of the pressure that Leeds United, the one team to defeat them, have thrown their way.
At this current rate, if they manage to keep it up, Albion will soar to automatic promotion as the likely points total they would achieve has been more than enough in four of the last five Championship campaigns.
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Last season, the west Midlanders fell short at the first hurdle by losing to eventual playoff winners Aston Villa in the semi-finals. It was a cruel way to go out as they were defeated on penalties, but that is merely a distant afterthought now as Slaven Bilic has them firing on all cylinders.
Under Darren Moore, and for a while caretaker Jimmy Shan, the Baggies were over-reliant on the goalscoring exploits of three players in particular – Dwight Gayle (24 goals), Jay Rodriguez (22 goals, six assists) and Harvey Barnes (nine goals, six assists), via WhoScored.
Some of their misfortunes post-January could be attributed to the fact that they lost the Leicester City loanee from that lethal trio as they failed to replace his exploits.
If those three weren’t at the races, chances are, West Brom would struggle.
That’s where they are hugely different this season under Bilic – there’s no reliance. Every single member of the squad is chipping in.
Every single outfield player that has featured in six or matches has either scored or assisted a goal while 22 of their 35 league goals have come from an attacking quintet of players.
This could be the difference between losing again in the playoffs and going up as if one player goes down injured, is suspended, is recalled, or even sold, the Croatian has other players he can trust to step up to the plate.
Which is a marvellous trait to have when you’re trying to clinch promotion. It could be the defining factor come May.
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Meanwhile, one Baggies star has been labelled as the ‘bargain of the season’ by some supporters following his role in their 4-1 victory in midweek.