West Brom are the ‘spoilers’ of EPL

West Bromwich Albion is a football club located in West Midlands, England. Locked in 17th position, just above the relegation zone, the club is developing into the giant killer of the English Premier League. They have managed 24 points in 26 games and have scored approximately 0.9 goals per game--surprisingly, they have forced most of the big teams in the Premier league to drop valuable points this season. Chelsea is the latest title contender to drop points against the struggling West Brom after they drew 1-1 at the Hawthorns in the mid-week fixture. Inversely, the Jose Mourinho’s team was also forced to a 2-all home draw by West Brom in November. Other top teams that have dropped points against Pepe Mel’s team include; Everton (away) in January, Tottenham (home) in December, Arsenal (away) drew 1-1 in September and in the same month Manchester United was beaten by West Midland’s club at old Trafford. West Bromwich became a centre of focus at the end of the season when they forced champions Manchester United to a 5-all draw on the last day. With all these shock results, there seem to be one clear message, West Brom performs so well against big teams and struggles against smaller or middle table clubs. Such cases normally occur when players are not paid regularly or receive big bonuses in some games compared to others, among many other factors. The managerial problem in such circumstances is out of the question. The manager and his technical staff should never be blamed on inconsistency because you cannot plot so well against Chelsea and fail with a similar plot against Norwich or Cardiff City under same circumstances. West Bromwich Albion has actually been a spoiler in the league title race by reducing the pace for top contenders. The competition for top spots in English Premier League remains unpredictable. With 13 rounds of matches remaining, even the top four finish positions are very hard to predict due to ups and downs in terms of performances and results by all the teams involved in the race. A few weeks ago, Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, which is yet to win a trophy over the last nine years, were on top with a difference of five points ahead of the team in second position. But the 5-1 defeat to fellow title challengers Liverpool last weekend coupled with a draw against the out of sorts Manchester United in midweek, has thrown the Gunners’ hope out of the window. There is a remarkable inconsistency from all the top teams, they have all dropped points against middle table teams and for this factor, the race for the EPL title could go to the last day as was the case two seasons ago when Manchester City piped their cross road rivals United to the title with a dramatic last minute winner against QPR.