Steve Bruce confirms one selection call ahead of first West Brom match

Steve Bruce has confirmed that he’ll be without defender Kyle Bartley and winger Matt Phillips when he takes his West Bromwich Albion team to Sheffield United for his first match in charge.

Albion head to Bramall Lane on Wednesday evening under a new regime, having had a number of days of working under Bruce and his adjoined back-room staff. It will be the first time that supporters see what system he adopts, and what style of play he is likely to run with in the coming weeks.

Two senior players in Bartley and Phillips, though, won’t be involved - they join Dara O’Shea, Kean Bryan and Daryl Dike in being unavailable.

“Unfortunately we have a couple of issues in terms of fitness ahead of the game,” Bruce confirmed. “We might have lost Kyle Bartley because he is sick and Matty Phillips because he has a foot injury. We don’t know the extent of it at this moment in time.

“It’s part and parcel of the game. We’re going to pick up injuries along the way.”

Bruce also confirmed that goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, who had had playing for him at Aston Villa, will return to the starting XI after missing the last five matches, three of them through suspension.

“Sam Johnstone will play on Wednesday,” Bruce added. “I’ve worked with him before. [David] Butts has done nothing wrong. But I’ve worked with Sam before, he is a very talented goalkeeper as we have seen.

“I’m not interested in what happened two or three weeks ago. It’s now and I’ll pick a team for now. Sam will start. It was a difficult decision because the other lad has done nothing wrong.

“I’ve let down eight players who can feel, justifiably, disappointed because I haven’t picked them in my first game, but I’ve assured them, around the corner, they will get their chance.”