This article is part of Football FanCast's In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets... 

West Bromwich Albion returned to the top of the Championship table on Monday night with a 2-0 victory at basement boys Stoke City.

Slaven Bilic's men hold a two-point cushion over second-placed Preston North End after 15 matches, and on their current path, the Baggies are expected to hit 92 points for the season - which has typically been enough for automatic promotion.

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The victory wasn't their best display by all means, but it was three points and a third clean sheet of the season.

It was in no doubt made difficult by the physical nature of the Potters side, who rank third for tackles per game in the division.

And this sort of contest just wasn't right for one of Albion's standout stars this campaign, Matheus Pereira.

It was a rare 'off' night for the Brazilian playmaker as he struggled to deal with the target which was undoubtedly put on his head.

However, Stoke's attempt to nullify him only opened the door for others to step up and contribute to the win.

Per SofaScore, Pereira was the most fouled player on the pitch (four times), while he only managed to win seven of his 16 ground duels as a result. The 23-year-old could also only record two successful dribbles from four attempts, and he lost possession 13 times.

Considering he had contributed three goals and five assists prior to the game, the home side did a stern job on him, but it may highlight a problem going forward as other teams may see this as a worthwhile tactic to pursue.

Pereira is fouled 2.8 times per game on average, which makes him the most fouled player in the league, via WhoScored, so it is apparent that he has had some sort of bounty on his head pretty much every weekend.

His poor performance in this fixture wasn't through any fault of his own as the referee should have offered him more protection at times, and as mentioned above, it only allowed the likes of Matt Phillips and Grady Diangana to make even more of an impact as the focus wasn't as much on them.