West Brom boosted by Birmingham injury concerns
West Brom take on Midlands rivals Birmingham City on Sunday at St Andrew’s hoping to extend their unbeaten run to five matches.
Albion are the form team coming into the game whereas the Blues are languishing in no man’s land in mid-table.
Blues boss Lee Bowyer has some injury concerns to worry about however and they both come in his defence, as reported by Birmingham Mail.
Teden Mengi, on loan from Manchester United, has suffered a reoccurrence of a hamstring injury and is expected to be out until the end of the month.
George Friend is another part of the Birmingham rearguard unavailable for Bowyer with a calf and knee injury that he is still recovering from.
They will at least have attackers Troy Deeney and Lyle Taylor back fit providing they have come through their own injury recoveries without any setbacks.
Attack early
Two key defenders out of action will surely mean something of a patched-up defence at St Andrew’s on Sunday and Steve Bruce has to make sure his team take advantage.
The crowd will be well up for the local rivalry and the team can spark those emotions even more if they come out of the traps at lightning speed and give the Blues no time to settle.
Early on, you want to see the Baggies attackers making sharp runs in behind the Birmingham defence to really test what they are made of and maybe even snap into a hard challenge or two just to get themselves fired up.
Bruce has to be careful that his players don’t go too far and leave themselves vulnerable but they have all the confidence coming into this game and they can’t afford the home side to earn even a shred.
In other West Brom news, read what Taylor Gardner-Hickman has to say about his role at The Hawthorns.
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