Nigeria defender, Semi Ajayi, will be harrying to score his third goal of the season for West Brom when the Baggies host his former club Cardiff City in a Sky Bet Championship match at the Hawthorns on Saturday, Completesports.com reports.
Ajayi has been very resourceful for the Slaven Bilic’s team this term following his arrival from another Championship side, Rotherham United.
The Nigerian has played played every minute of West Brom’s 10 league games so far, and has scored two goals.
The Baggies went nine games unbeaten before they lost 1-0 at Leeds United on Tuesday. And Ajayi while expressing his disappointed with that setback, remains upbeat that his team will bounce back strongly against his former club.
Ajayi spent two seasons at Cardiff City, from 2015 to 2017 – first as a loanee from Arsenal and then on permanent basis for the remainder part of his stay. But he never got to play for the first team, appearing only twice as an unused substitute.
“It all about response now. This is a feeling we haven’t felt this season and it’s a feeling we don’t want to feel again,” Ajayi told Expressandstar.com.
“We have to make sure we are on our A-game on Saturday to make sure we get a positive result. Cardiff are a big team with big players. They were in the Premier League last season.
“This is a very tough league with some very good teams, we don’t take any game for granted. We approach them all the same.”
As he gets set to face his former club, Ajayi’s main preoccupation is working hard to win with West Brom, insisting he doesn’t bear grudges against manager Neil Warnock for his lack of playing time during his stint at Cardiff.
“I don’t feel I have anything to prove. That’s football,” Ajayi continued.
“People have opinions, Cardiff went on to get promotion that year so I can’t really knock him [Warnock] for that. I wished the boys all the best when I left and it will be good to see them.
“There will be a lot of faces I recognise. A lot of the squad that was there when I was there is still there.
“It will be good to see a few familiar faces. But first and foremost it’s about the result and putting in a good performance for West Brom. After the game, then we can have a catch-up.”
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