Bilic confirms West Brom player will return from injury and start v Newcastle
Slaven Bilic has confirmed that Kieran Gibbs will start for West Brom in their FA Cup clash against Newcastle United at The Hawthorns on Tuesday night.
Gibbs, 30, has had continual injury problems all season that have limited him to making just 10 appearances in the Championship.
The former Arsenal left-back hasn’t played since the 1-1 draw against Leeds United on New Years Day but seems ready to be thrown into the side against Newcastle this week after fully recovering from a hamstring injury.
“Kieran has been training with us for more than a couple of weeks now,” Bilic said, as quoted by the Express & Star.
“He looks good, he looks fresh.
“With Kieran, because he’s had three injuries this season, we wanted him to have one or two games for under 23s, because one thing is to train but another thing is to play.
“But because of the weather, we couldn’t have that. He played 45 minutes.
“But based on training he’s ready. Based on training he looks sharp, he looks good. Sharp legs, everything. Skill was never a question mark.
“He has a top left foot. He’s there and he’s going to start.”
Gibbs has had a frustrating season but whenever he has played he has looked bright and a cut above other left-backs in the division.
Some fans might suggest that Connor Townsend deserves to keep his spot at left-back once Gibbs is back in the fray, which is far enough.
Townsend, 26, deserves a lot of credit for his form in the last month but Gibbs is simply in another league to the former Scunthorpe player.
Gibbs has been capped 10 times by England and has 170 Premier League appearances under his belt, with the majority of them being for Arsenal.
He’s also a two-time FA Cup winner, which could come in handy as West Brom try to reach the quarter-finals when Newcastle arrive in the Black Country this week.
In other West Brom news, Kevin Phillips admits there might have been a behind-the-scenes mistake regarding this Albion star.