da brwin： West Bromwich Albion opened up a three-point gap at the top of the Championship table by extending their unbeaten run to a 13th straight game on Saturday afternoon.
da marjack bet： The Baggies had to settle for a point against Brentford at the Hawthorns, but it means they have hit the 50 mark at the halfway stage of the season, making them currently on track to smash through triple digits.
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Opportunity amongst Slaven Bilic’s side has been hard to come by as six players have started 21 or more matches, including centre-back pairing Kyle Bartley and Semi Ajayi, who have played every single game this campaign.
So when a chance does come along, it must be taken, and that’s exactly what youngster Dara O’Shea did.
The young prospect was introduced early in the second half after Bartley suffered an ankle injury and the 20-year-old made the most of it with an impressive display in defence.
In 41 minutes of action, O’Shea recorded four clearances, one tackle and won all of his duels both on the ground and aerially. He also showed just how well he could fit into Bilic’s system by managing a passing accuracy of 88%, via SofaScore.
It was perhaps a surprise to see Ahmed Hegazi absent in the matchday squad given his experience, but the manager revealed that the Egyptian was dropped over a training ground incident.
The 28-year-old has been subject to a bid from Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad, but the club rejected the offer ahead of the January transfer window.
However, O’Shea’s breakthrough performance has shown why they should probably reconsider if another bid comes in for the £5.4m-rated defender.
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The youngster is another academy player trusted by the Croatian this season, following in the footsteps of Nathan Ferguson and Kyle Edwards.
Bilic said after the match: “Dara is one of the reasons why when I came to the club we didn’t sign another defender. They wanted to bring in not only Semi but another because they were lacking numbers. I didn’t want to – why? Because of Dara. I believe in him. Based on today, he’s a player. I love Dara.”
As a former centre-back himself you can only trust his instinct, and it also goes to show just how rated O’Shea is, which surely opens the exit door for Hegazi in the near future.
And in other Baggies news, West Brom clinching this rival star would show they are more ready for the Premier League…