Analysing Shane Long's Performance vs. Aston Villa

Was that Shane Long or Dennis Bergkamp?

That's the question many were asking after the West Brom forward scored in the third minute against Aston Villa on Monday night following a beautiful touch to corral a long pass. It was a goal somewhat similar to Bergkamp's against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup.    

Long calmly received the pass from Chris Brunt and took a touch with his right foot. Then he fired a low left-footed shot into the back of the net to finish off what was a great display of direct football.

Eight minutes later, it was Long again. Leandro Bacuna made a terrible back pass, which the Irish striker ran in to intercept, and he then unleashed a great chip over Brad Guzan.

GIF courtesy of B/R UK

It's the quickest brace the Premier League has seen in almost a year, per OptaJoe.

Although Aston Villa came back to level the score and the match finished 2-2, it was nonetheless a great performance from Long. The 26-year-old was a colossus up front for West Brom. He's running into all the right areas and making the most of his chances.

With his club coming into the night with just 12 goals in 11 games, it's important to have Long playing well at the top of the attack.

As former Liverpool midfielder Didi Hamann pointed out, it shouldn't be a big surprise from a player of Long's quality.

When talking about some of the better forwards in the Premier League, Long often gets lost in the shuffle, which is a shame. He's never going to be a 20-goal-a-season striker, but this game demonstrated what talent the Baggies star has.

He's a quality player who's more than capable of random moment of brilliance.

If Long can continue banging in the goals and helping his teammates in the attack, there's no reason West Brom can't finish the season near the top half of the league table.