Exclusive: Bilic tipped to rest West Brom loan star for clash v Blackburn – pundit
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Phillips reckons that Slaven Bilic could rest West Brom winger Grady Diangana for the trip to Blackburn this weekend.
Diangana, 22, was taken off in the second half of West Brom’s 2-0 win over Derby on Wednesday amid worries that he had suffered another hamstring injury.
After the match, the on-loan West Ham winger confirmed that he did not suffer any kind of injury but Phillips still believes that, at this stage of the season, Bilic will not take any risks and could swap him out for either Callum Robinson or Matt Phillips.
“I don’t think Bilic will want to take a risk with four games left. He’ll probably wrap him [Diangana] up in cotton wool,” the pundit told West Brom News.
“You get to this stage of the season and I know they haven’t trained a lot but you’re probably not going to go mad in training and give him a rest so he’s ready for the next game.
“But if there’s any chance of him having an injury, you’ve got players who can step in like Robinson and Matt Phillips.
“Hopefully he’ll be okay and he can go again in the next game.”
Diangana was in electric form for West Brom as they beat Derby.
Not only did he score a well-taken goal but he also combined well in the attack with Matheus Pereira and Kamil Grosicki, defended well and created chances.
We do not want him to suffer from any kind of injury blow at this stage of the season so resting him at Ewood Park this weekend would make a lot of sense.
Bilic has other players who can replace Diangana without severely weakening the side.
While Robinson and Phillips are like-for-like replacements, Filip Krovinovic could also come back in and Albion revert to a 4-3-3 formation.
Bilic is blessed with the best squad in the Championship and he is bound to use that to his advantage in the final four games of the season.
In other West Brom news, Albion could be invited to play for silverware at Wembley next month.
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