West Brom suffer fresh injury blow as defender could miss next four PL games
West Brom defender Kyle Bartley has suffered a fresh injury blow.
The Baggies mainstay was a clear omission from the squad in the 2-1 defeat against Newcastle, with Dara O’Shea coming in to replace him at St James’ Park.
It has been confirmed by Slaven Bilic that Bartley picked up a calf problem in the thrashing against Crystal Palace last weekend, and has started his rehabilitation.
Birmingham Live have shared that Bartley is likely to miss the upcoming games against both Manchester City and Aston Villa this week.
It gets worst though, with there being no set-return date for the 29-year-old meaning he could also miss the games with Liverpool and Leeds.
With the busy Christmas period starting in the Premier League, this is the last thing that Bilic needed at the Hawthorns.
Bartley did train after the Palace defeat and could have made things worst rather than proving he was fit enough to feature at Newcastle.
The injury picked up by Bartley has handed a golden opportunity to Cedric Kipre.
Kipre was named on the bench against Newcastle on Saturday afternoon, his first Premier League involvement of the season since arriving from Wigan.
There were suggestions that the defender could leave the Albion on loan in January, but this could be the perfect chance for him to prove himself worthy of a spot at the Hawthorns.
Some Baggies fans wanted Kipre to make his league debut against the Magpies, and after a horror-show from Branislav Ivanovic, the openings could be getting bigger for Kipre.
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