Alex Mowatt statistic highlights how vital the midfielder is to West Brom following Millwall nightmare
Ryan Mason's Albion suffered a bad day at the office on Saturday at Millwall.
Having picked up a battling midweek victory at Norwich - Albion made their second lengthy away trip in the space of a few days as they travelled to Millwall.
Albion suffered their heaviest defeat of the campaign - with the Lions running out 3-0 winners thanks to goals from Jake Cooper, Femi Azeez and Zak Struge.
It was a third defeat of the season and by far and away their worst performance under Mason so far.
Mason had said before the busy back to back away trips that he would have to lean on his squad to get through the schedule - and he did that by making the four changes in London.
One of the players who was rested for the clash at The Den was Alex Mowatt - who came on as a 79th minute substitute for Toby Collyer. The Manchester United loanee had a disappointing afternoon in what was his first full start for Albion.
Up to that point Mowatt had started every league game for Albion this season - and a statistic about how vital the former Barnsley midfielder is to Albion has emerged.
A West Brom podcast, Albion Analytics, has pointed out that there are only eight games since the start of the 2024/25 season where Mowatt has not started.
And of those eight games, Albion have only picked up a single victory when Mowatt was not in the starting line-up.
Jonny Drury gives his take on the statistic and Mowatt's omission at Millwall
Mason was always going to make changes at Millwall and as I predicted, Mowatt was always going to be one of them.
He has only completed a handful of games this season - so if anyone was going to be rested it was going to be him.
It was arguably the right call in that sense, but I think Albion fans who have watched the Baggies since Mowatt has been a regular will have kind have noticed how vital he is to the way they play.
Certainly in the last two seasons under Carlos Corberan - he was one of Albion's best performers.
He just controls everything, makes Albion tick and is such a key link in the side. There has been a lot of noise around Toby Collyer coming in. Saturday didn't go well for him, but it didn't go well for anyone from Albion.
Collyer could well end up being a starter for Albion because there is no doubt that he has quality. However, the result and this statistic show Albion's midfield is weaker when Mowatt isn't in it.
