West Bromwich Albion 4-1 Blackburn Rovers: Thomas-Asante brace boosts Baggies hopes
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West Brom's third goal gave Blackburn the worst defensive record in the Championship
West Brom's superlative home form continued as a convincing win over struggling Blackburn saw them consolidate their hold on fifth place.
The Baggies were sure of the three points after a one-sided first half as Tom Fellows' first league goal, one from Brandon Thomas-Asante and a Dominic Hyam own goal put them in full control.
Blackburn, who have now won just one of their last nine in the league, improved after a dismal first half, with Jake Garrett pulling a goal back.
That was quickly cancelled out as Thomas-Asante took his tally to double figures for the season to make it three home wins on the trot.
The Baggies are five points clear in fifth place, six adrift of fourth-placed Leeds, while Blackburn drop to 18th.
The Baggies have turned The Hawthorns into a fortress under Carlos Corberan, this victory making it 19 wins out of 29 since the Spaniard took over in October 2022, the best record in the Championship.
The result was never in doubt from the moment 20-year-old Fellows popped up at the far post to head home after Darnell Furlong's long throw had been left to bounce in the area by a static Blackburn defence after 11 minutes.
Blackburn were without the Championship's leading scorer Sammie Szmodics and defender Harry Pickering, through illness, but West Brom were also hit, with the influential Jed Wallace only fit enough for the substitutes' bench.
West Brom rode the loss of key personnel much better, and were two up on the half-hour courtesy of more benevolent defending, as Hyam's aimless header found Thomas-Asante and he fired a low shot into the bottom corner.
Three minutes later the game was over as a contest as Alex Mowatt was afforded too much time and space. His shot was parried by keeper Leopold Wahlstedt onto Hyam, with Thomas-Asante trying to get the final touch.
Blackburn survived further defensive mishaps until half-time and improved after the break, with Garrett showing neat footwork and a smart curling finish to pull one back.
Any thoughts of a revival were quickly quashed as Furlong beat Sondre Tronstad in an aerial duel and Thomas-Asante's shot bounced over Wahlstedt.
The defeat means that since the start of December, Blackburn have won fewer points (four), lost more games (seven) and conceded more goals (24) than any other Championship side.
West Brom manager Carlos Corberan told BBC Radio WM:
"In the last game we suffered a defeat against Swansea and the best way to recover from a defeat is to show this mentality from the first minute of the game.
"(Blackburn) are a team that like to play from the back every single ball and it means they have skilful players, but you can use this identity that they have to be aggressive and press.
"For our strikers it's always important to have the feeling of the goal but (Thomas-Asante) has been doing a very good job in terms of the pressing and linking up the game. Today he made extraordinary work.
"(Tom Fellows) has been preparing himself very well and every time he played from the bench he had a very good contribution to the team and today from the beginning he was excellent, not just the goal but as an attacking performance."
Blackburn manager Jon Dahl Tomasson told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"We need to accept it was not a good day. When you come here, with the quality of West Brom, it's a tough task. We started the game well but I was disappointed with the manner in which we gave the goals away - three set-play goals, things we have been speaking about before.
"Then when Garrett scored an excellent goal in the second half, we thought maybe we had a chance to get back in it and then conceded immediately in the second or third phase of a set-play.
"The only thing I am pleased with was the opportunity to give Sam Gallagher minutes, as he has been out for three months and is a player we have needed for a long time with all those injuries, and the same with Joe Rankin-Costello.
"Don't blame the players for individual mistakes, give the coach the blame. If you look at the whole game we were just as good as West Brom but games are won in each box, by winning personal duels and are you smelling danger and scoring goals? That's football.
"November was a good month for Rovers, December was not a good month, a period when there were too many games for a stretched squad."