This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
The Championship season is only 12 games old, but West Brom have been brewing up a storm as they currently occupy top spot going into tonight’s fixtures.
Albion have lost the fewest amount of matches in the division, meaning they are two points clear of second-placed Leeds United, who are the only side to defeat them this season.
But, it’s not just the club as a whole that have been topping the charts for specific statistics.
The Baggies’ shot-stopper Sam Johnstone is currently outperforming every single goalkeeper in England’s top two divisions in terms of total saves made for the season.
The 26-year-old has recorded 42 saves across 12 matches, meaning he averages 3.5 per game. He is closely followed by Millwall’s Bartosz Bialkowski, who has managed one less having joined from relegated side Ipswich Town in the summer.
Johnstone has even managed more saves than Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno, who has recorded 35 saves from their nine matches, though his average per game is higher at 3.8.
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But the Gunners recently held the unfortunate acclaim for facing the most shots of any side in Europe’s elite five leagues, so that only makes Albion’s number one look even more impressive.
However, despite all the personal positives for the former Manchester United man, it offers up a more pressing concern for manager Slaven Bilic.
The fact that his keeper is making so many saves means that his defence is rather penetrable as they are clearly allowing attempts on goal, this train of thought is only reinforced when seeing that West Brom have kept just two clean sheets all season – yet somehow remain at the Championship’s summit.
The Baggies currently concede an average of 11.9 shots per game, which places them in the middle of the Championship for that statistic, but what is most damning is that their most likely title challengers in Leeds are conceding the fewest shots per game at 8.9, via WhoScored.
At some stage, the scale is going to swing in their favour unless the Croatian can find a way to eradicate the problems that lie in his leaking defence.