Kevin Phillips makes key claim ahead of Luton Town v West Brom clash

Former West Bromwich Albion forward Kevin Phillips believes his old side’s fixture against Luton Town this afternoon is the type of game they need to be picking up points in, speaking to West Brom News ahead of kick-off.

The Baggies are currently winless in their previous four league fixtures, failing to score in any of those games and picking up just one point from a possible 12 as they now find themselves out of the play-off zone.

Comfortably sitting in third for large stages of the season, their poor form towards the end of Valerien Ismael’s tenure has been costly and his successor Steve Bruce hasn’t exactly been able to get off to the best possible start either, drawing one and losing one of his opening two matches at the helm.

Currently sitting in 9th place going into this afternoon’s round of league fixtures, they are at real risk of being cut adrift of the play-off race unless they can turn around their fortunes soon, with Bruce having the unenviable task of picking up players who must be mentally brittle at this stage.

However, they are currently just three points adrift of sixth-placed Middlesbrough and having competed in the Premier League last term, they remain strong contenders to win a top-six spot at the end of the campaign.

The deficit they need to make up may not be much then – but ex-Baggie Phillips believes Bruce’s men need to win points from these sorts of matches in their quest to secure a return to the top tier at this first time of asking.

Speaking to West Brom News, the 48-year-old said: “Anyone who comes up against Luton are always up for a tough, tough match, they’ve had some good results this season, the manager there, he gets the best out of those players.

“They’re an extremely difficult team