West Brom injury news: Goalkeeper Alex Palmer travelled with squad for Championship clash v Cardiff
West Brom goalkeeper Alex Palmer stepped up his return from injury by travelling with the first team for their Championship clash against Cardiff City last Wednesday (15 March), according to Lewis Cox.
The Baggies shot-stopper has been sidelined since picking up an injury in training at the beginning of February, with Josh Griffiths stepping into the number-one jersey in his stead.
Despite Carlos Corberan hinting that both Palmer and Kyle Bartley could possibly feature for the Under-21s on Monday evening (20 March), neither made the team.
However, Express and Star reporter Cox shared that the 26-year-old travelled to the Welsh capital for the 1-1 draw last week, despite not being named in the 18-man squad, as he nears his return to first-team action.
Prior to the Baggies’ Under-21s clash, Cox wrote via his personal Twitter account: “Outside chance of Alex Palmer and Kyle Bartley involvement.
“Carlos Corberan has told us they are close. Alex Palmer travelled to Cardiff as the third goalkeeper.”
Great news
The return of Palmer to the starting line-up will come as a huge boost to Corberan’s side, who have somewhat stuttered in their playoff push recently.
Whether this was because of Palmer’s injury is debatable, but ripping out an integral cog of a defence that was one of the fiercest in the Championship, was always going to have repercussions.
Getting the 26-year-old back in between the sticks might just settle the Baggies’ back-four once more, despite Griffiths doing a sterling job since being brought into the team.
Hopefully, the little absence from Championship action due to the international break will allow the Englishman to get himself back to full fitness ahead of the playoff run-in.
Albion desperately need to pull together a string of wins to pile the pressure on the teams ahead of them, vying for top-six positions, and the return of Palmer can hopefully kick-start this after the international break.
In other West Brom news, independent shareholders are on red alert watching Guochuan Lai keenly at the club as the deadline for his loan repayment approaches.