West Bromwich Albion of England’s rave of the moment, Semi Ajayi has gained a fresh does of accolades, following his goal that earned his side an away draw against Liverpool last weekend, and his stock has shot very high on latest ratings in English Premier League statistics, megasportsarena.com reports.
Albion pal, Matt Phillips was full of superlatives for Ajayi, following the former Rotherham United of England’s lanky lad’s goal against The Reds, just a reports emerged that the Super Eagles’ rookie is now closing on a record jointly held by Liverpool centre back, Virgil van Dijk and Shrewsbury Town’s Aaron Pierre.
A report by the BBC, revealed that Ajayi has now scored a total of eight goals overall, across all of England’s various divisions, which puts third among defenders who have been on song since the start of the 2018-19 season, with Van Dijk and Pierre both on nine.
It means only two defenders have scored more headed league goals than Ajayi in England’s top four tiers than Ajayi, as the Super Eagles star scored his eighth with a header during The Baggies’ 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Sunday.
Last season, Ajayi scored headers in Championship matches against Fulham, Huddersfield Town, Swansea and Luton Town and achieved the same the previous season versus Blackburn Rovers (2) and Queens Park Rangers during his days at Rotherham.
Ajayi’s clubs have never lost a game in all the matches he scored through headers, with five wins and two draws in seven games, such that he stole the show again on an evening Van Dijk stayed out with injury, and the Nigerian lad can overtake the Dutchman as the central defender with most headed goals in England’s leagues over the coming months.
All these account for superlatives coming from Ajayi’s teammate, Matt Phillips, who hailed he former Flying Eagles’ invitee’s performance and goal against the reigning EPL champions, while noting that his pal helped The Baggies earn a hard fought draw at Anfield.
Ajayi, incidentally netted his first ever EPL goal against Van Dik’s side on Sunday, much to the delight of Phillips, who declared: “They are the champions for a reason and they play some great football but we stayed in the game after going one down and Semi popped up with a great header.
“When you come to the big sides you have to work hard first and foremost and we got our rewards. We frustrated them and we only needed one chance to get something from the game. It was a great header and i thought Semi’s overall performance was excellent.”
