West Bromwich Albion will go looking for the perfect Christmas present this afternoon, and it will surely be in the form of three points at Oakwell.
The Baggies face a trip to Barnsley as they aim to extend their run at the top of the Championship table with another result. They currently have a three-point cushion over second-placed Leeds United.
Slaven Bilic will be dealt with an interesting dilemma as first-choice centre-back Kyle Bartley is likely to be absent for this fixture.
On the Chalkboard
The stalwart defender was forced off early in the second half in their 1-1 draw against Brentford last time out with young prospect Dara O’Shea replacing him.
It was perhaps a surprise to not see the experienced Ahmed Hegazi named on the bench after the Egyptian made 40 appearances in the blue and white stripes last season, but his manager revealed he was dropped over a training ground incident.
The 28-year-old was subject to a bid from Saudi Arabia last week, but the club quickly rejected it, so it can’t be much of a coincidence that such a scenario has taken place off the field.
Therefore, it would seem wise for Bilic to keep faith in the promising Irishman as he did no wrong in the 41 minutes he was called upon.
Per SofaScore, O’Shea managed four clearances, one tackle and a passing accuracy of 88%. He also picked up the second-highest rating in the squad at 7.1.
Based on that showing alone, the 20-year-old has not only repaid the faith of his manager but has also shown that he’s more than capable of performing.
There’s probably not a better game than now either with Barnsley languishing at the wrong end of the table.
In addition, the last thing any promotion push needs is a bad egg upsetting the dressing room, and that appears to be the case with Hegazi at the minute.
Bilic claimed that he loved O’Shea and that he was the reason why the club didn’t make any more additions other than Semi Ajayi in the role, so it’s now time to back that up and play him.
And in other Baggies news, has Nathan Ferguson’s successor already been found? Read here…