West Brom’s suspension has been lifted for Leicester City before their pivotal promotion match.
On Saturday noon, West Bromwich Albion will visit King Power Stadium, but their leading scorer, Brandon Thomas-Asante, won’t be there.
Brandon Thomas-Asante, West Bromwich Albion’s top scorer, was sent off in the Baggies’ 1-0 loss to Sunderland at The Hawthorns on Saturday, thus Leicester City will be playing without him. Pierre Ekwah’s goal just before halftime gave the Black Cats, who are expected to finish in the middle of the table this season, all three points.
Just before the game’s only goal, though, Thomas-Asante received his marching orders. In fact, he saw red for two bookable offenses that occurred in the next two minutes, as the game—which Albertion had been controlling earlier—completely flipped on its head.
Referee Matthew Donohue was forced to show Thomas-Asante a red card when he first caught Jack Clarke late and was rightfully booked. A minute later, he also took out center half Dan Ballard. After that, Ekwah scored, and in the end, the Black Cats managed to maintain their lead throughout the second half.
With 12 goals this season, Thomas-Asante leads Albion, who are currently sixth in the championship. Albion still needs one or two more wins to guarantee their spot in the upcoming play-offs this spring. Due to injuries, they have missed significant portions of the season with Josh Maja and Daryl Dike, the other attackers alongside Thomas-Asante, though Maja might play at King Power Stadium.
After a brutal week of away games, Leicester will be longing for the comforts of home. On Tuesday night, they lost 1-0 at Millwall, and on Friday night, they lost by the same score at relegation-threatened Plymouth Argyle. Tuesday night’s match between City and Southampton and Albion is expected to be very important in determining who will get automatic promotion spots in the final stretch.
They won’t have Thomas-Asante’s danger against Carlos Corberan’s Baggies, though, as he serves the one-match suspension that is imposed on any player who receives two yellow cards in a single game.
