West Brom's Jayson Molumby credits Okay Yokuslu for his part in sparkling form
West Brom's Jayson Molumby has put his recent good form down to playing alongside Okay Yokuslu - insisting the Turk's calmness allows him to get around the pitch and 'run riot'.
The Republic of Ireland international signed a permanent deal at The Hawthorns in the summer following a season long loan from Brighton.
It had been a tough first season for the 23-year-old in an Albion shirt - but this season he has struck up a solid partnership in midfield Yokuslu and his performances have improved since the arrival of Carlos Corberan.
Speaking to Albion's website, the midfielder has put his form and his partnership with Yokuslu down to Corberan's style of play - and also believes his high energy style complements the Turkish international's calmness.
He said: "I think the gaffer and the style of play has helped a lot with that. There are a lot of boys who are pushing me and Okay for places in the team.
"I really enjoy playing with Okay. He’s a top player and he has some amazing attributes. I think he’s the calm head in there and I’m sprinting around, chasing people down. I think it works well. He stays in the middle and I guess I’m free to sort of run riot and get about the pitch.
"We seem to have a good balance at the moment. There are some top players in our squad who want our places.
"I have been out of the team for some parts of the season myself and I know there are lads who aren’t playing regularly who want to get in and be a regular themselves. It’s down to the manager to pick the players he wants to go with in certain games and then it’s down to those players to perform on the pitch."
Despite a summer transfer window where Albion, alongside signing Molumby for £900,000, also managed to bring in quality attacking players such as John Swift and Jed Wallace, they faltered earlier this season.
After winning just one of the first 13 games Albion were in the bottom two and Steve Bruce was sacked - before Corberan came in a revived the club's fortunes.
Now they sit in the play-off spots after ten wins from 12 league games under the Spaniard.
Molumby believes it is the squad's togetherness that has driven them on to succeed and get on a run in recent months.
He added: "I think the togetherness. We’ve developed a really strong bond in that dressing room and you can see that out on the pitch.
"All of the boys are running their socks off, whether they are starting or coming on from the bench.
"We’re battling for every ball. We know we’re going to need everyone. We’ve seen it happen so many times already this season where someone has come off the bench and made a massive impact on a game.
"I think it shows the mentality and character within the dressing room that lads are coming on and performing well instead of sulking about the fact they aren’t starting."
