Much like their play-off semi-final opponents, West Bromwich Albion enter into the lottery of the playoffs overjoyed at picking up a final-day victory in the Championship.
Both the Saints and Baggies had lost their last three second-tier clashes before the winning feeling thankfully returned, with Carlos Corberan’s men beating Preston North End with eventual ease 3-0.
Despite the emphatic scoreline swinging in West Brom’s favour come full-time, Brandon Thomas-Asante had a torrid afternoon as the main man up top for the home side and could find he’s dropped for the first playoff game today.
Brandon Thomas-Asante’s season in numbers
This could be looked at as a rash call by the Spaniard if he goes ahead with this major alteration, considering the ex-Salford City striker is West Brom’s top-scorer this season in the league with 11 strikes.
Yet, his recent displays have been those of a centre-forward bereft of confidence and frustrated with his ineffectiveness in front of goal rather than one who boasts such a tag.
Before his poor day at the office against Preston, Thomas-Asante let his teammates down with a reckless red card against Sunderland after two ill-judged tackles crunched both Jack Clarke and Daniel Ballard in quick succession.
Restored to the XI against Ryan Lowe’s men to see what he was made of before the playoffs were confirmed, Thomas-Asante went missing for large spells against the Lilywhites with just 25 touches of the ball managed from a forgettable 85 minutes.
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Thomas-Asante’s numbers vs Preston |
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|---|---|
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Minutes played |
85 |
|
Touches |
25 |
|
Accurate passes |
5/7 |
|
Shots on target |
0 |
|
Big chances missed |
2 |
|
Duels won |
4/13 |
|
Stats by Sofascore |
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The lacklustre 25-year-old’s display in the otherwise impressive 3-0 win will make Corberan really reconsider his striker’s place in the starting lineup for the forthcoming playoffs, having missed two big chances against Preston to add further gloss to the win on top of completing just five accurate passes.
Josh Maja could well benefit from a last-minute centre-forward change, with the injury-prone attacker back in and amongst his manager’s plans at the best possible time with both of the Southampton clashes coming thick and fast.
Why Josh Maja should replace Thomas-Asante
West Brom fans might be initially bemused by the decision to bring Maja back in for such a high-stakes contest, considering the ex-Sunderland man has been largely out of action since December before being given a five-minute cameo against Preston.
When given more minutes earlier in the season, Maja – who was openly described as being an “amazing” talent by Thomas-Asante himself – was showing promising signs of being a Championship-capable striker before injury disaster struck.
Scoring 15 of his 17 Black Cats goals in League One, the forgotten 25-year-old would have been overjoyed to net only his third-ever career strike at Championship level for West Brom when Leicester City strolled into town in December.
Only needing 15 minutes to score against Enzo Maresca’s title-winners, with just four touches managed before sucker-punching the Foxes with a goal, Corberan could be tempted to throw Maja into the deep-end today to see what he’s like over the span of a full game.
Scoring a brace in a recent U21 fixture for the West Midlands outfit too, Maja will want to keep firing on all cylinders after his return from injury with a starting spot against the Saints.
This could be a change that takes Southampton by surprise, on the way to West Brom utilising home advantage to pick up a big win before travelling down to the South Coast ready to protect a lead.