Exclusive: Pundit raves about under-pressure West Brom mainstay who’s injury doubt v Palace
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 is impressed by what he has seen from Conor Townsend since the West Brom left-back made his Premier League debut earlier this season.
Townsend, 27, has come on leaps and bounds under Slaven Bilic with the former Scunthorpe player starting last season as Albion’s third-choice left-back.
However, Nathan Ferguson’s exit and Kieran Gibbs’ injury woes saw Townsend become a key part of West Brom’s promotion bid in the second half of the Championship campaign.
Gibbs, 31, started this season as Bilic’s first-choice left-back but a red card against Everton saw the former Arsenal man drop down the pecking order.
Townsend has started every Premier League match since the defeat to Everton in September and Phillips believes the Yorkshire-born ace has taken the step up to the top-flight in his stride.
“Townsend has settled in well,” Phillips told West Brom News. “He doesn’t look out of place.
“He’s been put under a lot of pressure this season because they’ve had to defend an awful lot and I think he’s done a good job. He’ll get better as the season goes on.
“Morale will be a lot better this week leading into the Palace game at the weekend. Confidence will be high.
“If they can get back-to-back wins it will be huge for them.
“Coming off the back of that [win versus Sheffield United], it’s something Conor Townsend will benefit from. He’s done very well this season.”
Townsend has made 10 appearances in all competitions for West Brom this season and stats by WhoScored show that only Kyle Bartley [1] has made more blocks-per-game than the left-back [0.9], who also ranks fifth in the Albion squad for dribbles-per-game [0.9] out of players with more than five appearances.
We have to admit we had reservations about Townsend as West Brom prepared for life back in the Premier League simply because he took his time to get up to speed in the Championship and had never played in the top-flight before this year.
However, we’re glad to say he’s proven us – and a lot of other Albion fans – wrong.
Hopefully, Townsend is fit to play against Crystal Palace this weekend as he was forced off with a knee injury in the 1-0 win over Sheffield United [Express & Star].
As it stands he’s a doubt but Gibbs shouldn’t be a bad replacement if he comes in.
In other West Brom news, Adrian Durham has recalled the moment this ex-Albion ace left him “mesmerised” at The Hawthorns.
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