Exclusive: Bilic tipped to drop West Brom senior player v Huddersfield by ex-Baggie
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 expects to see Charlie Austin dropped from Slaven Bilic’s starting line-up ahead of West Brom playing away at Huddersfield on Friday.
Albion travel to the John Smith’s Stadium after drawing their last two matches but know that wins in their remaining two Championship fixtures will secure promotion to the Premier League.
Austin, 31, has failed to score in his last three appearances and has missed some big changes in that time.
Ex-Baggies forward Phillips believes he should be dropped and replaced by Hal Robson-Kanu, even though the Welshman hasn’t netted since the 2-0 win against Preston on February 25.
“I wouldn’t like to second guess what Slaven’s going to do but all I would say is, the team he picked against Fulham was probably one of their strongest – if not the strongest – teams,” Phillips told West Brom News.
“I see Pereira and Diangana starting again and maybe bringing in Hal Robson-Kanu. Charlie’s started the last two games and should’ve scored a couple at the weekend and didn’t so maybe Robson-Kanu will get drafted back in.”
Phillips clearly believes that the striker position is a simple area to make a change in but West Brom’s wealth of options in the attacking midfield and on the wings makes things more complicated.
The talkSPORT pundit wouldn’t mind seeing Filip Krovinovic return to the fold.
“In terms of other positions, I’ve always liked Krovinovic. He could slot in quite easily. Plus there’s Matty [Phillips] and [Callum] Robinson.
“I’d like to see Krovinovic play. He looked good at the weekend and could have got a second goal.”
We’re all fans of Krovinovic and it was kind of harsh to drop him for the clash with Fulham after he did so well to score at Blackburn at the weekend.
The Croatian playmaker might return to the side on Friday after almost a week of rest.
West Brom have had just two days of rest since their last match so there could be a number of other changes that Bilic opts to make.
In other West Brom news, Adrian Durham has slammed this Albion player after a clip of him went viral on Twitter.
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