Kevin Phillips wants Grant, Diangana and Hugill start in West Brom clash v Stoke
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 wants Grady Diangana to return to the starting line-up at the expense of Callum Robinson when West Brom play away at Stoke on Friday night.
Albion won 4-0 away at Cardiff on Tuesday with Robinson starting in the front-three with Jordan Hugill and Karlan Grant.
It was Grant who was in exceptional form in Cardiff, scoring a beautiful goal to take his tally to four for the season.
Phillips wants Diangana to join in with the front-three away at Stoke this week though, believing that him and Grant on either side of Hugill should make for a good front-line for Valerien Ismael.
Speaking to West Brom News, Phillips said: “I want Karlan Grant to play – you can’t leave him out.
“ You can’t leave a striker out when he’s banging in goals but you’ve seen managers do it – like Pep Guardiola with Sergio Aguero.
“As long as the players buy into this rotation and they’re not giving any grief in the background, as long as they know they get game-time, it can work.
“It’s always a dangerous game when you’re trying to play that because you’re trying to keep everyone happy. But at the minute, it looks like that because when other players come in, they’re performing.
“I’d like to see Diangana play tonight, he’s an exciting player and maybe Hugill with that physical presence because Stoke are quite physical at the back.
“Maybe he’ll go with that front-three. I’d like to see Diangana and Grant with Hugill down the middle.”
Ismael has regularly rotated his front-three this season and 26-year-old Robinson and Matt Phillips are also options for the Baggies boss.
However, after such a strong performance at Cardiff on Tuesday, Ismael might not want to change things too drastically – or even at all.
In other West Brom news, this big-money player may never pull on Albion’s colours again.
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