A closer look at West Brom’s disciplinary record

Follow us on Google Discover

We take a closer look at West Brom’s disciplinary record and how it may be effecting their results.

West Bromwich Albion’s lack of discipline is beginning to become a problem. The Baggies have collected 27 yellow cards so far this season – the most in the Premier League.

Albion are collecting yellow cards at an alarming rate compared to their 2015/6 campaign. Pulis’ side are averaging one more card per game than last season, when they finished with the 5^th most bookings (65) in the league.

Jonny Evans and Claudio Yacob have missed a game each after collecting five yellow cards. And James McClean will miss Albion’s trip to the King Power Stadium this weekend for the same reason.

Frustratingly, McClean’s suspension comes at a time when he is showing some of his best form in an Albion shirt. His absence means Tony Pulis will, once again, have to reshuffle his midfield. This lack of continuity in the starting eleven has hindered the Baggies, who don’t have enough quality in depth to rotate their side every week.

West Brom are also 2^nd in the league in terms of fouls committed. This is a marked change for last season, when Pulis’ men ranked 16^th for fouls given away.

McClean is Albion’s biggest culprit for this, racking up 19 individual fouls. The Republic of Ireland international comes in joint 7th in the league behind foul-friendly forwards such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic (24), Troy Deeney (21) and Fernando Llorente (20).

McClean is nearly on course to collect more fouls than Yacob did last season. The Argentine finished the 2015/16 campaign with 62 fouls in 34 appearances, the 3rd highest in the league.

Albion’s tendency to give away fouls is not reciprocated by their opponents. Pulis’ side are the 2^nd least fouled team behind Saturday’s opponents Leicester. The more revealing statistic might be that West Brom have won the 2^nd least fouls in the final third of the pitch.

West Brom are well set up to score goals from set plays but are limiting their own goal scoring potential by only winning 17 free-kicks in these dangerous positions. Last season, winger Stephane Sessegnon would win 2.8 fouls per games (0.68 in the final third) for the Baggies. Tellingly, Albion’s most fouled player this season has been right-back Craig Dawson.

Speaking of Dawson, he may be the next West Brom player to miss a game through suspension. The defender is teetering on four yellow cards ahead of the weekend and would be another big loss for Albion heading into big games against Burnley and Hull City.

Albion can’t afford to keep collecting cards and fouls at this rate. If all these trends persist, it will only continue to damage their league form.