Queens Park Rangers 0-2 West Bromwich Albion: Ferguson and Pereira give Baggies win

West Brom boss Slaven Bilic compared teenage defender Nathan Ferguson to England international Declan Rice after his goal helped the Baggies beat QPR and go top of the Championship.

Ferguson, 18, was given time to stride forward and beat Joe Lumley with a speculative 30-yard shot for his first senior goal, with Matheus Pereira's free-kick putting the game beyond the hosts, who had Yoann Barbet sent off for bringing down Hal Robson-Kanu.

"Nathan has a mentality that reminds me of Declan Rice," said Bilic, who managed the midfielder at West Ham.

He told BBC WM: "He's only 18 on paper, but his mind is 25 or 27 - he's not a kid. He's only a kid in a positive way in that he's not afraid to take the ball forward and have a shot.

"It's our job to keep him humble but there's no doubt that he has an extremely bright future and a great career in front of him."

The Baggies came to life after shading a forgettable first half, with QPR keeper Lumley atoning for Ferguson's opener by thwarting Charlie Austin, Grady Diangana and Kyle Edwards as the visitors asserted their dominance.

But Slaven Bilic's side were out of sight as Pereira's free-kick went through a powderpuff QPR wall and in.

"This is the best performance that we played so far. Straight from the start we were on the front foot. They didn't have a sniff," Bilic said.

"We were a bit nervous - we were getting in great situations but were rushing it.

"In those situations you maybe need one moment of individual brilliance and we got that with Nathan. We were pure class afterwards."

Mark Warburton's Rangers had been looking to secure five consecutive league wins for the first time since 2004, but failed to even register a shot on target, with Ilias Chair wasteful in the first half after beating two players in the box and Jordan Hugill heading over late on.

In fact, Ferguson's opener was the game's first meaningful effort, with the R's defence backing off the impressive young full-back, whose effort should arguably have been stopped by the diving Lumley.

Substitute Robson-Kanu was in on goal when Barbet tangled with him and was dismissed, with Brazilian midfielder Pereira joining 18-year-old Ferguson in scoring his first goal for the Baggies.

The margin of victory would have been wider had the overworked Lumley not been able to claw away former Wales striker Robson-Kanu's header late on.

QPR boss Mark Warburton:

"I think we showed too much respect. They're a very good team, a talented team with big expectations and we knew what we faced, but we didn't get out of second gear in the first half.

"We started the second half well and then conceded a really soft goal. To concede a goal like that, the whole dynamic of the game changes.

"Maybe their budget is multiples of ours and the expectations are there, but we've shown in recent weeks that we can go home and away and play good football and hurt teams."