West Bromwich Albion of England defender, Semi Ajayi has blamed a red cad received by one of his teammates for last weekend’s heavy 5-1 loss suffered at home by his side against Crystal Palace in the English Premier League, megasportsarena.com reports.
The former Rotherham United of England versatile player, who can line out as right-back, central defender or holding midfielder for both club and country, insisted that his team played well, until the red card shown Matheus Pereira in the 34th minute changed the game’s tempo.
The defeat left Ajayi’s team 19th in the EPL standings, with six points from 11 matches ahead of their trip to Newcastle United on Saturday, and he has now urged his teammates to improve on their performance after their lacklustre outing against Palace.
A week after grabbing their first victory against Sheffield United, Slaven Bilic’s men suffered a heavy loss at home against The Eagles on Sunday, despite Conor Gallagher putting The Baggies on level terms towards the end of the first 45 minutes after Darnell Furlong turned the ball into his own net to give Palace the lead.
Sadly, The Baggies could not stop Roy Hodgson’s side, as they suffered their seventh league loss of the season, but Ajayi, who has put in a full shift in all matches played by Albion so far this season, except a goalless draw against Burnley, insists it would have been a better result had the red card not gone to his colleague.
Indeed, before the dismissal of the Brazilian winger for violent conduct after a VAR review, The Baggies had been very much in the game, as Chelsea loanee Gallagher cancelled out The Eagles’ opener, but the red card proved pivotal, with Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke each scoring twice in the second half to give Palace a comprehensive away win.
The defeat left Albion 19th in the table with six points after 11 matches, but Ajayi believes his team will bounce back, even as he urged his colleagues to keep their heads high up ahead of their next EPL fixture against Newcastle United on Saturday.
Ajayi submitted: “I think it was a very even game before the red card. If anything I thought we were edging it. Going down to ten men changed things massively.
“But I don’t think it should’ve had as much of an effect on our performance as it did. We need to put this result behind us because there’s a lot more to play for this season.”
