Vakoun Bayo is in the richest vein of goalscoring in his career.
The Ivory Coast international’s brace that secured a 2-1 win over West Brom took him to nine goals in 19 Championship appearances.
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That is almost 0.5 goals a game from a player who, over the course of his career, has scored at around 0.28 goals per game.
He’s scored eight in his last eight, and the double against the Baggies were both true striker’s goals.
“I’m really happy for Bayo because he’s a player who sacrifices himself for the team,” said Tom Cleverley.
“But let’s not discount that he’s now got nine goals in the league this season, so he’s having a productive season in front of goal.
“I’ve not had a chance to watch his second goal back but his first one was excellent.
“There wasn’t so much pace on the cross and so to generate power and accuracy made it a proper striker’s goal.
“I’m sure with nine goals he’s in the top four or five in the league.
“We know the work he does for the team and if he maintains that as well as scoring goals then we’ve got a complete striker at this level.”
It was, though, an afternoon where pretty much every player contributed significantly to the win.
“It’s really hard to pick individuals out of that performance,” Cleverley admitted.
“I could go to any one of them and they have really risen to the challenge.
“I said to the group beforehand that we knew this game was a big game, because I felt like it was two teams who have the same ambitions and objectives.
“With everyone around us winning as well that pressure was compounded.
“So to perform like that with the pressure we were under makes me hugely proud of the players.”
Cleverley spotted the main source of concern in the first half was coming down the Albion right.
“There were just some little details for James Morris and Mattie Pollock,” he said.
“Fellows is a good player and a good winger, and we knew that going into the game.
“The channel ball was causing us a little bit of an issue, and we managed to put that right well.
“It was like James had never been away. He just stepped in without an issue.”
