Confirmed: West Brom star Kyle Bartley to miss rest of February with calf injury
Carlos Corberan has confirmed that West Brom will be without Kyle Bartley for the rest of February after his picked up a calf injury.
The central defender was forced off at half-time of the 2-2 draw with Ipswich with a calf problem, and then was unavailable for the 2-0 win over Cardiff on Tuesday night.
After the game the boss confirmed that the 32-year-old is likely to be out for around three weeks, with the expectation being that he should be able to return for the home game against Coventry next month.
“Bartley had a problem in the calf,” Corberan confirmed, as quoted by Birmingham Mail (14 February). “It’ll take ten days at least, between 10 and 20 days and, depending on the days, he’ll miss more games or less games. We have sent him for a scan, for a second opinion, but it’s going to be around there.
“What is important with Bartley, is to recover him quickly without the risk of injury again. We must recover him and recover him well. So far he has been extraordinary, he didn’t miss any single training and, until now, he didn’t miss a single game.”
West Brom dealt major injury blow
While the club have had one of the best defensive records in the Championship this season, Bartley has been a key part of that.
His absence now is going to be felt hard, although a clean sheet against Cardiff shows that it won’t be impossible for them to be able to replace him in the short-term.
Semi Ajayi is also due back from the African Cup of Nations in the coming days, so there will be hope that he can come straight back into the team and slot in alongside Cedric Kipre to lessen the damage.
However that doesn’t mean the absence of Bartley won’t be felt at all, because he’s a really solid defender with great leadership abilities and he’s been in brilliant form.
Corberan has proven that he is able to adapt his team selections and tactics depending on who is available, and he will need to do that again now for this short period of time without the experienced defender.
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