West Brom returned to the top of the Championship on Saturday afternoon as they ended a run of seven straight games without a win with a victory over basement boys Luton Town at the Hawthorns.
Slaven Bilic’s side almost looked back to their best, even in the absence of Grady Diangana and Matheus Pereira, with them instead guided to all three points by a figure that has been faltering in recent weeks.
The Baggies opened the scoring in the 14th minute through an own goal by the visitors before Semi Ajayi wrapped things up with a bullet header 20 minutes from time.
On the Chalkboard
It was the performance from Matt Phillips that stood out most as he picked up a game-high rating of 7.8 by SofaScore.
According to their figures, the 28-year-old recorded two key passes, one successful dribble and had three attempts at goal. He also won four of his five ground duels and provided the crucial assist via a cross for Ajayi’s winner.
Phillips had been struggling in recent weeks, going six games with just one assist to his name and ten without a goal, per Transfermarkt, and fans had started to get on his back for such performances, as seen here.
His manager reacted on in the final week of the transfer window by bringing in a pair of attacking options – Sheffield United’s Callum Robinson on loan and Hull City’s Kamil Grosicki permanently.
It appears as if that has spurned a huge reaction from the Scot as in the very first game since they arrived, he has put in quite possibly one of his strongest performances of the season.
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With genuine competition behind him, Phillips has upped his game but it will now be a question over whether or not he can keep it up for the foreseeable future. He’ll have one eye over his shoulder now that Grosicki is available for selection against Millwall on Sunday.
And in other news, West Brom fans laud Filip Krovinovic after victory against Luton…