The relegation battle of the 2017/18 season might already have declared a volunteer – West Brom. The Baggies are at the bottom of the pile and are 10 points adrift of safety. Tony Pulis and Alan Pardew’s incompetence have been done away with and with just 8 games left it would take a miracle for them to come out of the bottom three.
What usually follows after relegation is player unsettlement issues and financial crises. Clubs have to offload their biggest name while finding replacements in cheaper options. West Brom might just lose one of their wantaway players next season who is attracting interests from Burnley – Craig Dawson.
An injury to the knee kept Dawson out of action for almost two months but the 27-year-old returned to increase his seasonal appearance to 25 games. Albion’s current season should not rule out Dawson’s capabilities completely.
Once an England U21 international, the Rochdale-born defender has racked up quite a bit of Premier League experience in his time with West Brom. He already has 173 appearances under his belt and is capable of playing on the right-back position as well.
With Ahmed Hegazi and Jonny Evans filling the centre-back roles, he has played majority of the season on the right. Versatility is one of the top qualities managers always look for and £10m might just be a decent price tag.
Burnley are the ‘best of the rest’ with Leicester City still 3 points behind and Everton struggling to put up a run of wins. While the fans at the Turf Moor would be overjoyed to snatch up the 6th place from Arsene Wenger’s side, bridging a 5-point gap within 8 games will be a challenging task.
Dyche’s defensive system will be tested in the final stretch of the season when every club in the bottom half of the table are scrambling for points, desperate for top-division survival. It has held off top-opponents on multiple occasions and currently holds a better record than Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal who all are in the top 6.
The Clarets are coming off an impressive 0-3 away win against West Ham United last weekend.
Burnley silenced the crowd at the London Stadium with an incredible display in front of goal. Chris Wood grabbed a brace and Barnes broke the deadlock with a brilliant strike towards the top corner well away from Joe Hart.
Signing Dawson will be huge boost to the Turf Moor based club who will be building upon the remarkable season they have enjoyed. Further additions are necessary to keep a side competitive.
