West Bromwich Albion fans want to extend their unbeaten start in the Championship to seven games away against Sheffield Wednesday.
Carlos Corberan’s table-toppers have won through grit and determination, with a recent 1-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle thanks to Josh Maja’s second-half strike.
On another day, West Brom may have found themselves shockingly behind in this game, with Baggies goalkeeper Alex Palmer shining against the Pilgrims when his team needed him to be focused on and aware.
Palmer’s performance vs Plymouth
Palmer has established himself as Corberan’s primary shot-stopper, appearing in all competitive games last season and continuing to do so this season.
Palmer’s outstanding efforts have earned him praise in the early stages of this season. He has only conceded two league goals and has four clean sheets in six games.
However, his side was almost penetrated several times when Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth came to town in their last match.
Palmer made four stops to secure the three points for his team. His distribution under duress was also impressive, with six crisp long balls.
While the ever-improving 28-year-old helped shut out a challenging Plymouth team, other Corberan players had a quiet day at the workplace, including Tom Fellows, who was nowhere near his rampaging best in attack against the visitors from Devon.
Fellows’ performance vs Plymouth
After failing to spark into life against the Pilgrims, the fellow academy prodigy’s place in the main West Brom XI may be less certain than Palmer’s for the trip to Wednesday today.
Fellows, a 21-year-old winger, had only 26 touches compared to Palmer’s 47, while John Swift and Maja took the lead in attack.
| Fellows’ performance in numbers | |
|---|---|
| Stat | Fellows |
| Minutes played | 71 |
| Goals scored | 0 |
| Assists | 0 |
| Touches | 26 |
| Accurate passes | 12/14 (86%) |
| Accurate crosses | 0/2 |
| Total duels won | 3/7 |
| Stats by Sofascore | |
The table above shows a subdued performance from the usually electrifying striker, who nonetheless has an excellent four assists from six second-tier games.
Corberan may choose to use his entire squad against the Owls, potentially leaving Fellows out. Fellows struggled to be a creative presence against Plymouth, resulting in zero accurate crosses to feed Maja up top.
Fortunately, new recruit Uros Racic took on those responsibilities, gifting the former Sunderland player a tap-in to win the carefully poised encounter, while Fellows was instead hooked off by Corberan deep into the second half for another goal contribution.
Jed Wallace, who replaced Fellows on the day, will be vying for a starting spot ahead of the Baggies youngster in order to demonstrate what he can offer over the vibrant 21-year-old, while Grady Diangana will be waiting in the wings for his chance to shine down the flanks.
Corberan could, on the other hand, maintain his faith in Fellows by continuing to pick him, as West Brom strive to remain at the top of the second-tier table for as long as possible, regardless of who is chosen, with a potential win at Hillsborough only adding to their growing confidence.
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