West Brom 2 Aston Villa 2: Steve Clarke says Peter Odemwingie won’t be leaving in transfer window after derby heroics

The Nigerian striker, who has been linked with a move to Queens Park Rangers, netted his sixth goal of the season to earn the Baggies a point.

After the game manager Steve Clarke ruled out any chance of his striker leaving the club in the transfer window, saying: “There is nobody going out in January — we don’t need to sell anybody.
“The quicker we get to February 1 the better. Nobody is coming in and nobody is going out.”

Christian Benteke opened the scoring with his 10th goal of the season after 12 minutes. The Belgian unleashed a unstoppable 20-yard drive which flew inside Ben Foster’s right-hand post before Gabriel Agbonlahor made it two just after the half-hour mark.

But the home side, who were booed off at half-time, got one back within minutes of the restart. Odemwingie crossed brilliantly to find Romelu Lukaku, who teed up Chris Brunt to fire in off the post from the edge of the box.

Odemwingie then levelled things up with just seven minutes left earning praise from his manager.

“I thought Peter (Odemwingie) was absolutely outstanding tonight. For me he was the man-of-the-match,” Clarke said.

“He was lively, he was bright and he wanted to be on the ball. He played with personality, he played like a man. I thought he was great.”

For Villa manager Paul Lambert the disappointment of dropping two vital points in their fight for Premier League survival was evident to see.

“There are a few things going through my head about what I feel,” said a deflated Lambert.

“I thought we were excellent in the first half. We should haver been out of sight — it should have been finished.

“I think we should have been four up in the first half and that would have killed the game.

“I always thought that we would do it (stay up). I’ve always thought that and that’s still the aim.”