This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Charlton travel to the Hawthorns this Saturday to take on a West Brom side who are flying right now.
Slaven Bilic’s men are sitting pretty at the top of the Championship table having lost just one of their 13 league games this season – the Baggies have amassed 26 points and are two points clear of 2nd-place Leeds.
In Charlton’s case, Lee Bowyer’s side suffered heartbreak last time out after they saw what was a 1-0 lead over Bristol City turn into a 2-1 defeat, with Josh Brownhill scoring a 97th minute winner.
Despite the loss, the Addicks still sit comfortably in 10th, just five points behind West Brom.
If they are serious about making up ground on the Midlands-based side, then here are two players they must pay close attention to…
Grady Diangana
The on-loan West Ham man has been in fine form so far this season since arriving from the London Stadium.
Diangana has scored four goals and registered three assists in just eight Championship starts, while also winning two WhoScored Man of the Match awards.
In addition to that, the 21-year-old has some healthy-looking attacking averages. Diangana records 1.6 shots, two key passes and 2.8 dribbles per game in the Championship, and is also fouled 1.3 times per game on average.
Matheus Pereira
Another on-loan star is Brazilian attacker Matheus Pereira. The 23-year-old arrived from Sporting Lisbon on a season-long loan back in the summer, and has had an excellent start to life in England.
Pereira has scored three goals and grabbed four assists in the same amount of starts as Diangana, while the diminutive Brazilian also gets involved heavily in the final third.
West Brom’s No.12 records two shots per game and 2.4 key passes per game, and is fouled by the opposition 2.7 times per game on average – going off that last statistic, he has proven to be a handful for the opposition to contain.
If Bowyer and Charlton allow the Baggies’ loan duo to run riot on Saturday, they will likely be travelling back to The Valley empty-handed.