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Report: WBA midfielder admits ace has become ‘a marked man’ after falling ‘victim’ to his talent

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Romaine Sawyers has confessed that Matheus Pereira has fallen victim this own success after the Brazilian received a three-match ban for violent conduct this week.

Speaking to The Birmingham Mail, the 28-year-old midfielder admitted that players in the Championship are beginning to pick up on Pereira’s game after a breath-taking start to the season for the Brazilian attacker in which the Sporting Lisbon loanee scored five and assisted a league-high 10 as stats from WhoScored show.

But the second half of the season for Pereira, and West Brom, has been one to forget, with the Baggies failing to win a league game since mid-December and the 23-year-old attacker being found guilty by the FA for violent conduct after elbowing Joe Allen in this week’s 1-0 defeat to Stoke City, backing Sawyers’ point that the youngster is beginning to be found out.

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The former Brentford midfielder said: “He is a victim of his own success. He is now a marked man. He came to the league fresh, nobody knew what he was about. Now everyone can see the quality he possesses. He’s a good player and he will come good again.”

Sawyers added with: “You can see he is trying. I think you would be worried if he wasn’t showing the work rate or getting in the right positions but he is. He is a marked man but he will improve his game. At the start of the season, he was playing in a lot more space than he is now.”

With the Baggies without Pereira for their next three games, including this weekend’s FA Cup tie against West Ham, Sawyers and the rest of the West Brom squad will be hoping the Brazilian’s absence won’t be too bad as the Albion aim to re-find their form after an awful start to 2020.

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