Championship round-up: Hat-trick hero the star man in GW17

After scoring a hat-trick in Birmingham’s 3-3 draw with Hull on Saturday, Che Adams finished gameweek 17 in the Championship as the highest WhoScored rated player (9.48). The 22-year-old has now played a direct hand in 10 goals in 17 league appearances for the Sky Blues, securing Birmingham a share of the points with Hull with an 84th-minute equaliser.

Adams had twice put Birmingham ahead in the first half only for Hull to respond with three answered goals. The Tigers looked destined to see out the game after Kamil Grosicki fired them ahead with just over 15 minutes of normal time remaining but Adams drew Birmingham level with his first ever Championship hat-trick. Adams scored his three goals from four attempts on goal.

Gameweek 17 was also profitable for another 22-year-old striker, with Reading’s Yakou Meite finishing it as the second highest WhoScored rated player (9.22). Meite netted twice against Ipswich to help secure a point for the Royals and like Adams, Meite scored Reading’s equaliser in the 84th-minute.

Meite has scored six league goals all season and they have all fallen in his last five appearances for Reading. The young forward also won nine aerial duels against the Tractor Boys. Rounding off the top three highest WhoScored rated players from this weekend’s Championship action is Aston Villa star John McGinn (8.53), who registered a goal and an assist in Villa’s impressive 3-0 win away to Derby.

The 24-year-old had three attempts on goal in total, registered four key passes and won four fouls. The Scottish midfielder has been a revelation for Villa since arriving over the summer and turned in his best ever display for the club on Saturday.

While the aforementioned trio flourished, the same cannot be said for Leeds United goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell. Leeds slipped to a shock 4-1 defeat away to West Brom in Saturday’s evening kick-off, the biggest defeat of Marcelo Bielsa’s tenure. After conceding four times, there is little wonder Peacock-Farrell garnered a WhoScored rating of 4.95 to finish as the lowest WhoScored rated player from GW17. The 22-year-old committed an error that led to West Brom’s second goal and only made two saves in total.