Steve Bruce provides West Brom team news update as Baggies gear up for Luton Town clash

West Bromwich Albion have won just one of their last nine Championship outings and could fall out of the top half of the table this weekend.

The Baggies travel to in-form Luton Town, who are just one point and one place below them in the table, in looking to arrest their slide under Steve Bruce.

Marquee January signing Daryl Dike’s injury has hit them hard in recent weeks and Bruce had the following update to provide on three Baggies players when he spoke to the club’s media team.

He said: “There’s good news regarding Kyle Bartley.

“He’s trained all week.

“It’s known that he was suffering with chicken pox and thankfully he’s over that.

“Daryl Dike has been out on the grass for the last two or three days.

“What we are seeing is encouraging.

“We’ve also got to be careful though because it’s a muscle injury and these things are governed by time.

“Matty Phillips is in a protective boot which he comes out of on Monday.

“We’ll see what the pain is like after that.

“There’s a little bit of light there.

“People are coming back and that can only be a good thing.”

West Brom’s issues have mainly been in attack in the last month or so and it looks like Andy Carroll, Karlan Grant, Grady Diangana and Callum Robinson will be relied upon for a while longer while Phillips and Dike edge closer to a first team return.

The Verdict

Bruce will be granted some patience due to the supporters’ happiness that Valerien Ismael is no longer in the dugout.

However, if the gap between the Baggies and the top six continues to widen then that will evaporate pretty quickly and the experienced boss needs to get his first win on the board as soon as possible.

The Baggies won the reverse fixture 3-2 and were 3-0 up with over a quarter of the match left.

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