West Brom are still well in contention to win promotion from the Championship this season.
The Baggies are currently 5th in the second-tier table, following another promising campaign under Carlos Corberan.
Admittedly, they are 18 points adrift of an automatic promotion place as things stand. However, they are also five points clear of 7th place Norwich City in the race for a top six spot.
That puts them in a good position to at least get a shot at promotion via the play-offs in the coming months.
Judging by one stat though, it seems Okay Yokuslu is one player who will be vital to any hopes West Brom have of gaining promotion this season.
Okay Yokuslu defensive importance highlighted
Yokuslu has been a regular feature for West Brom in the Championship this season. In total, he has started 32 of the 36 league games they have played this season.
He has also come off the bench as a substitute in three more of those matches. On Wednesday, night the midfielder again started for the Baggies against QPR at Loftus Road.
With 79 minutes on the clock, the Turkish international was substituted with West Brom leading 2-1.
Following his departure from the game, the hosts went onto score an equaliser, just two minutes later. That ensured the game finished 2-2. The Baggies were therefore forced to settle for one point rather than three.
Taking to X after that result, West Brom fan Saul Saunders was quick to point out the impact taking Yokuslu off the pitch has on the team, writing:
“What a crazy stat this is, West Brom have conceded 11 goals within 5 mins of Yokuslu going off this season.”
Next up for West Brom is a trip to the John Smith’s Stadium to face Huddersfield Town on Sunday afternoon.
West Brom have an Okay Yokuslu dilemma
This stat does seem to highlight just how key Yokuslu is for the Baggies right now.
Corberan’s side have only conceded 35 league goals in total during the season so far.
It therefore indicates how much West Brom lose when Yokuslu is not on the pitch, that almost a third of those have come in these periods after he is taken off.
That therefore leaves the Baggies with a big challenge over how they manage the midfielder’s workload.
They will not want to risk burning him out by keeping him on the pitch constantly, in the hope of avoiding this situation repeating itself.
Equally though, those goals they concede when he comes off, could yet prove very costly in the race for promotion.
Such a risk is one they are going to want to avoid taking as much as possible. There is consequently going to be plenty of pressure on Corberan over how he uses Yokuslu for West Brom between now and the end of the season.