West Bromwich Albion’s are narrowly losing or drawing too many games, and need to perform better against teams in the bottom half of the table.
West Bromwich Albion
League position: 13th (22 points)
Goals conceded: 29 (11th=)
Shots conceded per game: 13.2 (12th)
Percentage of shots conceded from outside box: 54% (2nd)
West Bromwich Albion sit 13th in the table, but are just four points clear of 20th place, and new manager Pepe Mel will be wary of the fact that one slip up could see them drop down the table.
The Baggies have lost five games by a single goal margin, and while able to motivate themselves for the big games, they struggle in matches against teams around them – with only the 18th best record against teams in the bottom half of the table. They have the 9th best record against sides in the top half.
Last season when finishing 8th, West Brom scored 1.4 goals per game – thanks in no small part to the signing of Romelu Lukaku on loan from Chelsea, with the Belgian scoring 17 times in the Premier League.
This term, with no player having scored more than four goals in the top flight, that goals per game average has dropped to just under 1.1.
West Brom have conceded the 11th least goals in the Premier League in the current campaign, and the second smallest amount of shots in the box – both creditable statistics for a team of their calibre.
We suspect that Mel’s biggest priority will be working on his attack in the remainder of the season.