Ajayi stars in defence in West Brom draw vs Man United

SUPER Eagles defender Semi Ajayi was a rock in the West Brom defence on Sunday as they drew 1-1 with Manchester United in a Premier League clash at the Hawthorns..

Ajayi led from the back and marshalled an outstanding rearguard effort to stop the visitors from taking all three points after Bruno Fernandes cancelled out Mbaye Diagne’s opening strike for West Brom.

Relegation candidates West Brom were expected to be overrun by second-place United, but it was the plucky hosts who scored first.

The game was not even two minutes old when Diagne outmuscled Victor Lindelof to head past David De Gea for his first West Brom goal. 

The pattern was set from that point on, United doing all the attacking and West Brom defending with every man.

West Brom, led by the excellent Ajayi at the heart of their defence, snuffed out everything United threw at them until one minute from half-time when Fernandes found some space to volley home Luke Shaw’s inch-perfect cross.

The second half went much the same way as the first, with Ajayi and his teammates repeatedly repelling United attacks, and trying to catch the visitors on the break.

Most of United’s attacking threat was nullified despite them being the Premier League’s top scorers, Ajayi and his teammates keeping Edinson Cavani, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial quiet for much of the match.

West Brom did have two great opportunities to score through Diagne, the first saved by De Gea after the Senegal striker had overpowered Harry Maguire, the second scooped high and over from close range.

United almost won it at the death however, Maguire’s header crashing off the crossbar.

With the one point, United stayed in second place with 46 points from 24 games, seven points behind leaders Manchester City who have an outstanding game.

West Brom are second from bottom with 13 points from 24 matches, 12 points from safety.