Semi Ajayi: West Brom loanee Matheus Pereira the best in the league

The Albion defender admits he has marvelled at the form of Pereira, who is on loan at The Hawthorns ahead of an agreed £8.25million permanent move to the Baggies.

The Brazilian 23-year-old was at the heart of the Albion’s stunning 5-1 victory over Swansea on Sunday, scoring one and playing a huge part in the other four goals for Ajayi, Hal Robson-Kanu, Matt Phillips and Kyle Edwards.

“It’s a joy to play with him – but I can imagine it’s even more of a joy to watch him,” Nigeria international Ajayi enthused.

“Some of his passing against Swansea was unreal and long may it continue.”

And Ajayi believes that latest performance underlines claims that the Sporting Lisbon loanee is currently the best player in the second tier.

“Yeah, definitely,” added Ajayi. “From the performances he has put in it’s hard to argue otherwise. We’re all really pleased for him.”

And the emphatic scoreline over the Swans was as an enjoyable to play in as it was to watch, he said.

“It was a joy. We were very clinical, we took our chances and our passing was slick. We controlled the majority of the game,” said the London-born 26-year-old.

“And the atmosphere was amazing as well. You can’t really ask for any more.”

However, Ajayi remains keen to concentrate on Albion’s own form after leapfrogging rivals Leeds to return to the top of the Championship after the Baggies’ sixth successive win.

“It’s too early in the season to be thinking about Leeds,” he maintained. “We are just concentrating on ourselves. We go into every game wanting to win and we did that against Swansea.

“It’s about keep the momentum going. We are taking things one game at a time.

“Our focus now switches to Wigan. We will prepare for that and try to implement the game plan the manager wants.

“Hopefully we can do that and get another win.”