Not many would’ve expected Southampton to go without an attempt on goal during the first half of Albion’s Sky Bet Championship clash with them at The Hawthorns.
It was the first time that has happened to the Saints so far in 2026/27, after all, and it was all of the Baggies’ making.
James Morrison’s men made life extremely hard for the visitors from the South Coast, ending the first period with 64 per cent of the possession share, 1.37 xG (Expected Goals), two big chances created, and, of course, the opening goal in hand.
Though, as the boss said post-match, his team’s first-half “energy was hard to replicate,” as shown by Southampton eventually equalising, there were plenty of standout performances across the board, particularly in midfield.
The quartet of Ousmane Diakité, Jayson Molumby, Rabby Nzingoula and Isaac Price started the game and were key to the hosts’ control over proceedings in B71.
Starting with the former on that list, ‘Oussie’ marshalled the midfield expertly, making the highest number of defensive contributions of any non-defender on either team during the match with nine; Chris Mepham held the game’s best (12).
The man from Mali continued his impressive string of showings this term with 11 ball recoveries, two more than any player on the field, and the same total for ground duels - also the most across the fixture.
Yet another brilliant performance from our Malian midfielder. 🇲🇱 You voted Ousmane Diakité as Player of the Match against Southampton! 🌟 https://t.co/IEpKj7QxkO
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) November 4, 2026
Diakité has shown clear improvement on the ball across this season, personified by his mazy runs through the waves of challenges from Tonda Eckert’s side on Tuesday.
His slalom around the dangling legs of James Ward-Prowse and Kuryu Matsuki brought The Hawthorns to a standstill, while the passing triangle between himself, Felix Horn Myhre and Callum Styles stopped Southampton’s pressing structure in its tracks.
Alongside the Malian, Jayson Molumby’s industrious performance earned him the Sky Bet Championship Player of the Match Award, and rightly so, judging by the numbers.
The Irishman completed the second-most number of passes in the game with 75, holding an accuracy of 95 per cent, while 15 of those were into the final third - the highest of any player.
Possibly his finest of those balls came when he lofted a pinpoint slice over the top of the Southampton back line to find the run of Price, who almost doubled his own, and his team’s tally for the evening. In that event, Molumby dropped between the two centre-backs, unpressured, and was able to find the diagonal run of his colleague.
As is typical of the all-action midfielder, he spends a lot of his time linking up with the likes of Rabby Nzingoula and Brayann Pereira over on the right-hand side, with him free to do so to create an overload.
And he could’ve grabbed the opener by charging into that side of the field, had it not been for goalkeeper Daniel Peretz, who he found in the way of his long-range attempt.
On the flanks, Rabby Nzingoula and Isaac Price also had their fair share of an impact on proceedings - the latter scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot to maintain his 100 per cent record from 12 yards in an Albion shirt, while also amassing the highest total of shots in the game.
Nzingoula won the penalty which his opposite number scored, also completing the greatest number of dribbles (2) and creating three chances over the 90 minutes.
The Baggies midfield quartet are beginning to gather momentum with their promising performances, and both Saturday and Tuesday’s editions of those displays will further underpin their importance to the side.
