Championship Top Five, Round 27: Bentley unbeatable for Bristol City
Bristol City earned a hard-fought 2-0 win away at Wigan on Saturday, with goalkeeper Daniel Bentley making seven solid saves on the way to keeping his well-deserved clean sheet, Things could actually have started terribly for him as he very nearly saw one of his clearances rebound off Kieran Dowell into the back of the net only for it to slam wide. It wasn't just his saves from shots that made this the performance of the week in the Championship, as he continually helped take the pressure off his defence with 14 ball recoveries which was the second-most of any player in the league this weekend and by far the most by any goalkeeper.
For basically the entire match between Reading and Nottingham Forest, nothing much, at all, happened. Then, in injury time, things burst into life as Ben Watson scored in the 96th minute, thinking he had just won the game, only for Forest hearts to be broken a minute later following a Reading equaliser. Watson played his part in proceedings, though, and deserved to be on a winning side. He completed 38/43 attempted passes, won the majority of his tackles, and made seven ball recoveries, three interceptions, and four clearances.
The highly anticipated Welsh derby between Cardiff and Swansea turned out to be, well, a bit rubbish, as the cagey affair ended 0-0 on Sunday. One man who can hold his head high though was Sean Morrison, who put in a commanding shift at the back for the Bluebirds. He won 10/13 duels, 8/10 aerial duels, won 100% of his tackles, and made six ball recoveries, two interceptions, and 10 ball clearances which was the highest tally of any player this weekend in the Championship.
Back to Bristol City, now, and it was Jamie Paterson who changed the game for the better for his side after coming off the bench around the half-time break. It was he who eventually broke the deadlock and opened the scoring with a nice, slid finish under the oncoming goalkeeper with his left foot. Then, he turned provider for Famara Diedhiou to score after a lovely, lofted pass over the top of the Wigan defence.
Speaking of Diedhiou, Bristol City fans enjoyed one of his best performances in the shirt in the win over Wigan, as he gained an assist for the aforementioned goal for Paterson, as well as finishing himself with a lovely strike into the bottom corner. Not only that, but he is in with a shout for possibly the unluckiest disallowed goal, perhaps in history, as moments after he chested a touch into the air and rattled a spectacular volley into the top right corner from 35 yards, the referee brought play back and blew for a foul for an incident he wasn't even involved in. Tough one to take.
HONOURABLE MENTION
Said Benrahma (7,8) continued his excellent form for Brentford, scoring in the 3-1 win over QPR, while Jason Knight (7.8) scored, albeit in fortuitous circumstances, for Derby in the 2-2 draw away at Middlesbrough.
ROUND TO FORGET
Birmingham eventually won 2-1 away at Luton, but were put under unnecessary pressure in the latter stages after Harlee Dean (4.9) was sent off. This was after a performance which saw him win zero tackles, 1/4 aerial duels, and 1/8 ground duels.