West Bromwich Albion are certainly experiencing a wobble in the Championship at the moment, having started the season like a runaway train.
The Baggies raced straight out of the blocks with five victories from their opening six second-tier contests, before a defeat to Sheffield Wednesday at the close of September clearly knocked confidence in Carlos Corberan’s camp.
Even when results haven’t always gone in the favour of the West Midlands side, it’s safe to say the defence has consistently put in a shift, despite the goals also notably drying up in the attacking positions.
West Brom’s stern defence this season
It’s not as if this is just reserved to this campaign in isolation, however, with Corberan’s men priding themselves on dogged displays last season, on top of their efforts in the Championship now.
West Brom only leaked 47 goals across 46 games, with playoff winners Southampton surrendering a far heftier 63 strikes, and it looks to be another season where the defenders will shine at the Hawthorns.
Kyle Bartley has been key to these solid performances at the back so far, amassing five clean sheets from the ten second-tier appearances he has managed to get under his belt, before being ruled out through injury for West Brom’s last two league contests.
Paddy McNair now finds himself in the Hawthorns treatment room too which piles on even more selection issues for Corberan defensively, alongside Semi Ajayi also now being ruled out for four months, but the Spaniard will know he can rely on the trusty duo of Darnell Furlong and Torbjørn Heggem to remain staunch regardless of any more absentees troubling him.
Not every player has gone to be a rip-roaring success at the back for the Baggies after signing on the dotted line, however, with this centre-back purchase going down as a dud, but one that thankfully didn’t damage the then Premier League club’s bank account too much.
James Chester’s time at West Brom
The established top-flight club forked out some big bucks to snap up James Chester in the summer of 2015, acquiring the ex-Hull City man for a bumper £8m fee.
Chester would never fully settle in at West Brom, to the dismay of the Hawthorns masses who must have thought he was going to be a rock-solid performer based on his price tag, with the former Baggies number four only going on to make 19 appearances for his new employers before being let go of to join near neighbours Aston Villa.
He would go on to be a valued part of the Villa defence over many seasons, away from struggling at West Brom, with 126 appearances amassed by the time of his exit in 2020.
West Brom did have to sell Chester for £1m less than they purchased him for when letting him move onto Villa Park, but the £7m sale hasn’t really haunted them in the long run, with the experienced defender’s value constantly falling since his underwhelming spell at the Baggies.
Even as he blossomed into a dependable first-team performer for Villa week in week out, Chester’s value would begin to fall, with his price all the way down at £1.6m by October 2020, when he was on the books of Stoke City after being released by his former club.
Now, the Welshman’s value sits at a meagre £60k, as the 35-year-old’s career begins to peter out playing in League Two with Salford City, with Chester yet to feature in a game in the lowly division this campaign so far.
Looking back, West Brom must feel vindicated now that they parted ways with their former dud so prematurely, resulting in them winning back some substantial cash before his value dramatically took a nosedive.
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