STAT PACK: Baggies can depend on Dawson

ALBION face a trip to Hull tomorrow (ko 3pm) as the players look to build on last week's victory at Swansea. Here the guys over at football statistics website WhoScored.com have previewed the upcoming clash.

Pepe Mel's reign as Baggies head coach has not seen results reflect the performances on show. Positive results against plenty of the top teams England have to offer were a common theme before last week a first victory under the new boss became a reality.

Once again, the side went behind but refused to lie down and this time they came from a goal down to record a stunning win courtesy of two unstoppable long-range strikes from Youssouf Mulumbu and Stéphane Sessegnon. 

Those players will rightly have been praised greatly for their eye-catching and ultimately match-winning goals, but it was a united display in which there were praiseworthy performances all over the pitch.

The defence were again impressive, restricting Swansea to very little after conceding early on, providing the platform from which to build attacks of their own and Craig Dawson was central to that, continuing to enhance his growing reputation as one of England's finest young centre-backs.

At just 23 years of age, he is one of very few - nine, to be precise - centre-backs currently under the age of 24 who have played in the Barclays Premier League this season. 

Of those, Dawson boasts the fourth-highest rating from WhoScored.com, having registered an average of 6.93. 

To put that into the context of the whole Premier League, it ranks him marginally below Manchester United's Jonny Evans this season.

Dawson settled into the back three Mel utilised with consummate ease, providing cover on the left side of defence that allowed Liam Ridgewell to get forward and exert an influence at the other end of the pitch. 

This weekend, Dawson will again be key, particularly given Jonas Olsson misses out through suspension.

Hull's performances this season have only developed a single statistically calculated strength on WhoScored: creating long shot opportunities. 

Dawson himself, boasts 'tackling' and 'blocking the ball' as 'very strong' and 'ball interception' as 'strong' on the stats website, so his input will be vital in attempting to thwart the attacking threat of the Tigers and limiting their shooting chances.

Dawson is still only young, so to expect too much of him at such a tender age would perhaps be unfair, but given his past performances, it is difficult not to foresee him putting in another display that defies his years.