West Brom hit by Matt Phillips injury blow as Carlos Corberan reveals surgery scheduled
Matt Phillips is set for surgery on Saturday that looks likely to rule him out for the rest of the West Brom season, Carlos Corberan has revealed.
Ahead of the Baggies’ FA Cup fourth round trip to Bristol City on Saturday (28 January) the manager has shared injury absences for a number of prominent first team men, with John Swift also set to miss out and Kyle Bartley still not ready to return.
But it is the news on Phillips, who limped out of the 4-0 win over Chesterfield in the previous round on 17 January, which is most damaging, with a three to four month recovery time on his quad muscle injury.
Birmingham Live’s Joe Chapman reported via Twitter on Friday afternoon (27 January): “Been to see Carlos today. Not good on Phillips – doubt we’ll see him again this season. Surgery planned tomorrow.
“Swift missing tomorrow too. Bartley pencilled in for an hour in the 21s tonight.”
And the Athletic’s Elias Burke wrote a minute later: “Bad news Baggies fans, Matt Phillips is out for 3-4 months with a quad muscle injury. Fair to say it’s unlikely he’ll feature much, if at all, this season.
“Swift unavailable tomorrow after turning his ankle but optimism he’ll be fit for Coventry next week.”
Sickener
Phillips may have become a bit part player under Steve Bruce earlier in the season but has been a central figure since Corberan arrived and turned the campaign around.
It is clearly a blow to the Albion promotion push, as well as the run in the cup, but whether the club will look to make a late signing in the transfer window remains to be seen.
Whether there is time to source and secure a player of adequate quality, who might not even be available given the lack of funding, is certainly a doubt.
There is probably enough cover in the squad currently, but Swift’s absence does compound the issue for the trip to Bristol City, so it would be a boost if he is available by the Coventry game as hoped.
Bartley was almost persona non grata when struggling during the doomed Bruce era, but was reborn under Corberan, so it is a positive note that he is returning to reserve action at least.
But losing Phillips for the rest of the campaign can’t be dressed up as a positive and is something the manager will have to overcome if he is going to continue his very strong record since arriving at the Hawthorns.
In other West Brom news, the club looked to have put themselves on a collision course with league sanctions with a recent move.