West Bromwich Albion returned to the Championship summit on Saturday afternoon after they won the west Midlands derby at St Andrew’s stadium.
The Baggies had to come from behind to do so with Leeds United throwing away a two-goal lead later in the day.
Birmingham City opened the scoring through Lukas Jutkiewicz and regained the lead two minutes in the second half after Grady Diangana had cancelled out the opener earlier in the match.
Slaven Bilic then made a game-changing call to introduce Charlie Austin as the striker’s quick brace won them all three points.
The 30-year-old fired home a half-volley from outside the box before looping a header over the home goalkeeper nine minutes from time.
Although, much of the attention post-game was on his strike partner Hal Robson-Kanu, despite him failing to score or assist…
‘Immense’ and ‘brilliant’ were just two words used to describe the 30-year-old’s showing while one supporter compared him to an ‘elite player’ because of the way the ball sticks to him – also praising how he’s been totally transformed under Bilic.
The Croatian made an interesting call to keep Robson-Kanu on the pitch when Austin was introduced in the second half, and it appears to be something that some supporters want to see more of.
One fan highlighted Bilic’s influence for the Welshman’s turnaround in form, claiming it was ‘staggering.’ He’s scored six times in Albion’s last 11 matches, per Transfermarkt.
There was even a chance for one member of the Hawthorns faithful to retract his previous thoughts on the striker, which only goes to show just how well he has been doing at the club this season.
Robson-Kanu’s performances as of late has left Bilic with a tough decision to make over who starts up front for the Baggies on Saturday, either way, it’s a pleasant headache to have when both of your strikers are fit and firing.
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In other news, West Brom fans have been slamming one member of the starting XI on Saturday…
