Football

Alonso is slow but Ajayi is a great sprinter and Gemili, Bilic confirm it

The six goal thriller between West Brom and Chelsea offered just more than the goals scored at The Hawthorns on Saturday.

It was very entertaining, and a game of two halves with West Brom dominating the first half while Chelsea ruled the second half.

Chelsea Thiago Silva made a huge mistake that led into the second goal but apart from the above mentioned points, there is still one.

An incident happened sometimes in the first half when West Brom defender Semi Ajayi out paced Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso.

Semi pushed the ball past Marcos Alonso and still jogged past the Spaniard despite being some distance behind the full back.

Marcos Alonso is not the fastest player he is very slow but then Semi Ajayi could have done what he did to any footballer.

While Ajayi’s action was a surprise to many that they said:”even Ajayi out paced Alonso,” it is no surprise to Adam Gemili one of Great Britain leading sprinters.

In an interview with The Athletic early this year, the former Chelsea youngster now European 200m champion, Adam Gemili confirmed that Semi Ajayi could have had a good career as a runner.

“Semi was always one of the tallest in our year and had great speed,” he said.

“We had many battles on sports days doing the 100m and 200m. His stride length was always huge and he was very good at jumping.

“I first met Semi on the first day of secondary school. We were both in the same year at Dartford Grammar School. We both loved sports so we were quickly drafted into our school rugby and athletics team, which we both loved being a part of.

“I got to know Semi very well over the years. We both loved our sports so ended up spending a lot of time around each other whether that be on the playground or during class.

“We both played for academy teams while at school. I was at Chelsea and he was at Charlton so we regularly played against each other growing up, which was always fun,” said Gemili.

West Brom manager, Slaven Bilic also confirmed Semi Ajayi pace.

“He’s got pace that normally defenders, especially centre-backs, don’t have,” Bilic said.

“It’s very rare that they have that pace. Every club normally wants to get at least one centre-back who is pacy because when you hold a high line and defending such a big space behind you, you need pace.”

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