Danny Wright

Sat 11 July 2020 12:00, UK

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 believes that Ahmed Hegazi will be forced to miss West Brom’s clash against Blackburn at Ewood Park on Saturday.

Hegazi, 29, missed Albion’s 2-0 win over Derby on Wednesday due to being suspended but he is available once again this weekend for the trip to Lancashire.

However, after the defence performed so well against Phillip Cocu’s side earlier this week, Phillips cannot see how Slaven Bilic can justify changing his defence to accommodate Hegazi again.

“Personally, I would go again with the same starting line-up,” Phillips told West Brom News.

“Offensively, you can chop and change and get away with it but from my experience of being in coaching, when you’ve got a back-four that looked strong, solid and soaked up a lot of pressure against Derby, there’s no reason to change it.

“I’m sure Hegazi wouldn’t think he’s coming straight back in after the performance.

“For me, 100 per cent I would stick with the same back-four.”

Hegazi played quite well in the games leading up to his red card against Hull.

The Egypt international even scored in the 4-2 win over the Tigers but ended his day on a sour note by picking up a second yellow card late on.

West Brom have won three in a row now and their defence is starting to look more and more solid since the restart.

We think that Hegazi is a top Championship centre-back but all season, the defence has just looked better with Semi Ajayi and Kyle Bartley in the middle.

When West Brom travel to Blackburn on Saturday, we, like Phillips, expect the back-four to remain the same.

In other West Brom news, Albion could be invited to play for silverware at Wembley next month.

Be sure to follow West Brom News on Facebook and Twitter for 24/7 updates on the Baggies and more exclusive interviews with Kevin Phillips.