Bruce starts "complete" gem, "dreadful" player axed in big changes: WBA predicted XI - opinion

West Brom are back in action this evening after securing a dramatic 2-2 draw against Huddersfield Town in their previous Championship outing.

Tonight sees runaway league leaders Fulham take the trip to the Hawthorns in an effort to increase their already substantial lead at the top of the table.

In his latest press conference, Baggies boss Steve Bruce revealed that his side will still be without Matt Phillips and Daryl Dike for this evening’s match but that they should be back soon.

With that in mind, here’s how we feel the 61-year-old could line his team up for their tough test against Marco Silva’s side, with some big changes on the horizon.

In goal, despite being at fault for Huddersfield’s first goal of the game last week, it feels likely that Sam Johnstone will keep his place in the team today to see if he can somehow keep Fulham from scoring, something that the west London club have only done three times in the league this season.

For a back three, we can see Bruce sticking with Kyle Bartley and Matt Clarke. However, in a big change, he could take Semi Ajayi, who has been slammed for his “dreadful” passing ability in the past, out after his shaky display against the Terriers, with Cedric Kipre coming in to replace him.

Looking at the two wing-back positions, similarly to Ajayi, we predict that Bruce will take Darnell Furlong out of the team and replace him with Taylor Gardner-Hickman on the right with Conor Townsend keeping his place on the left.

Then for the three central-midfield positions, with Gardner-Hickman moved to right-wing back, we can see Jayson Molumby coming in next to Jake Livermore and Alex Mowatt, who will also be aiming to not only keep a clean sheet but to make sure their attacking players get