This season, West Bromwich Albion is very much in the running for a spot in the Championship play-offs.
Among the players who make a significant impact at the Hawthorns is goalkeeper Alex Palmer.
His great time at Plymouth Argyle helped propel him to this point in his career; not too long ago, he was a frequent loanee.
A successful loan at Plymouth
As a West Brom player, Alex Palmer wasn’t necessarily guaranteed playing time every single week.
Following several fruitless loan stints, the south coast ultimately turned out to be the ideal location for him.
The aforementioned goalkeeper joined Ryan Lowe at Home Park throughout the summer after he brought several players from Bury.
Palmer rose from being a Premier League 2 player with little chance of playing for the first team to becoming an important member of a League Two club that was promoted from the fourth division.
| Alex Palmer’s PAFC statistics 2019/20, as per Transfermarkt | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Competition | Appearances | Goals conceded | Clean sheets | Minutes played |
| League Two | 37 | 39 | 14 | 3,330 |
| FA Cup | 3 | 2 | 1 | 270 |
| EFL Trophy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 90 |
Throughout the entire team’s limited season because to the Covid-19 outbreak, Palmer led the Pilgrims in appearances.
In addition to playing in all 37 league games and 3,330 minutes, the 27-year-old has also participated in three FA Cups and one EFL Trophy.
When a certain Michael Cooper was chomping at the bit and waiting in the wings, appearances alone demonstrate just how essential the shot-stopper was in green and white.
Palmer also has an advantage in terms of clean sheets; with 14 from 37 games, he led League Two in this category, ahead of, among others, Tom King of Newport County and David Cornell of Northampton Town.
His percentage of clean sheets was 37.8%, and Argyle gave up slightly over a goal per game—39, to be exact—while he was in goal.
Palmer pushing for Premier League football
West Brom finished 19th in the Premier League in 2020–21, which resulted in their relegation. Since then, they have been fighting their way back to safety.
Since then, they have placed tenth and ninth, respectively, missing out on the playoffs. Moving forward, their objective is to advance one or two spots in 2023–2024.
Due to their excellent level of play, Leicester City, Leeds United, and Ipswich Town are a formidable trio to deal with. Russell Martin’s Southampton is having an equally impressive campaign, and West Brom finds it difficult to stay up with this team.
However, the Baggies are among the finest teams in the division under Carlos Corberan’s leadership, and Palmer can help the team further as they go into the play-offs, where they will look to defeat two of the aforementioned quartet to secure a return to the Premier League.
Again, Illan Meslier of Leeds is the only goalie in the league who can keep up with Palmer in terms of clean sheet totals this season, and he plays every minute that he can.
In keeping with his tenure at Argyle, Palmer is conceding one goal on average each game, a statistic only surpassed by Leicester and Leeds, while the Baggies have a traditional Corberan defense.
Palmer is consistently demonstrating his superiority as an EFL goalkeeper, and some recognition must go to Argyle for making it possible for this to eventually occur.
Following his departure from Home Park, he had a successful loan spell at Lincoln City, where he greatly enhanced his potential and became an invincible member of the West Brom starting lineup. He has to acknowledge the part Argyle played in his development, as do many others.
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