Baggies Samba to top of the table PEREIRA TURNS ON BRAZILIAN STYLE
THE Baggies hit the top of the Championship again with a lot of Brazilian swagger
Matheus Pereira, 23, will cost £9m to turn his loan from Sporting Lisbon into a permanent deal – and he was like gold to West Brom in this exciting win.
The midweek defeat at Leeds ended Albion’s first stab at being top of the charts.
But pulsating Pereira made sure West Brom took advantage of shock defeats for Swansea and Leeds in the league yesterday and got back there.
He tore Cardiff apart, scoring one and making two, and despite a terrific late rally and a couple of goals from sub Danny Ward, Pereira finished the winner.
It’s one defeat in their last eight league games now for West Brom and Cardiff boss Neil Warnock looks right when, pre-match, he tipped Albion to finish in the top two.
Warnock joked he wanted a gale and rain at The Hawthorns to keep Albion in check.
Instead he got a whirlwind Cardiff were unable to tame until Ward came on 17 minutes from the end, scoring within two minutes and getting his second four minutes from time.
Even then Pereira had the last say, setting up Romaine Sawyers for his first Albion goal three minutes into added time.
“Pereira played on loan with a German team last season and I knew about him and I have good contacts in Germany,” said Baggies boss Slaven Bilic.
“He is not only a good player, but hungry. At the moment the guy is playing unbelievable football and we want it to stay like that.”
Pereira moved from Brazil to Portugal when he was 12 and is becoming a man in the Championship.
He scored his first goal in England in Albion’s 3-0 win at QPR a week ago and ran this game.
West Brom stood up to Cardiff ’s bombardment for about 10 minutes, didn’t even rock, and then took them apart before that late fiery late fightback by the Welsh dragons.
“I didn’t want us folding like we did at Reading when we lost 3-0,” said Cardiff boss Neil Warnock.
“I just wanted to get home that day.
“At half time I said to the players that we had 2,000 fans here and they needed to do something for them.
“We did that. West Brom are a good team but they are vulnerable in areas.”
But Pereira and the Baggies other star, Grady Diangana, took
Cardiff ’s WEST BROM CARDIFF 8 .........Shots on Target......... 8 4 ........ Shots off Target......... 7 6 ................Corners ...............10 6 ...................Fouls .................. 13 0 ................Offsides ................2 82.6 .Passing Success % .. 61.3 564 .......Total Passes ........ 274 65.9..... Possession %.......34.1 45.2.. Territorial Adv % . 54.8 seven game unbeaten league run off them.
They linked up in the 19th minute, Pereira curling in a beauty, left footed, from 18 yards.
Smithies was beaten again three minutes before the break.
Jake Livermore drove through Cardiff and his short pass was taken by Diangana and hammered in.
All Albion needed to do was continue what they’d started and by the 71st minute it was 3-0.
Charlie Austin controlled Pereira’s pass off his chest and charged forward to get his first Albion league goal.
Ward took advantage of sudden lapses in West Brom’s defence, but Pereira, deservedly, had the final word with his pass to Sawyers.