West Brom: Bruce handed a lifeline as Kyle Bartley returns | OneFootball

Steve Bruce will be hoping that his West Brom side can take all three points as they travel to Luton Town this afternoon, and the new Baggies manager will be relieved as he is handed a lifeline ahead of the Championship clash.

What’s the word?

The 61-year-old manager took to his pre-match press conference to confirm the return of Kyle Bartley, following a bout of illness that saw him hospitalised and side-lined for the last two weeks.

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Bruce said in his update on Bartley;

“He’s trained all week. It’s known that he was suffering with chicken pox and thankfully he’s over that.”

The manager also confirmed that Matt Phillips continues to recover from his injury and Jake Livermore remains unavailable as he is serving a four match ban following his second red card of the season.

Fans will be buzzing

Fans will be buzzing that Bartley will be available to return to action this weekend, as the Baggies attempt the challenge of securing a play off position in the Championship after a huge drop off from the first few months of the season, when they were in contention for a title race and automatic promotion and have now found themselves battling for a play off spot, currently sitting 9th in the table.

The centre back has definitely been one of their more consistent players this season, bagging two goals from his defensive position which is more than Kenneth Zohore and Jordan Hugill combined, speaking volumes on the situation Albion have found themselves in this season.

According to SofaScore, Bartley is the third highest rated player (7.10) in the entire West Brom squad this season, and it comes as no surprise when he is winning the majority of his duels (68%), successful in the majority of his dribbles (75%) and the side have secured 10 out of their 13 clean sheets when the defender has appeared in the side.

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With that being said, the return of the 30 year old will offer the Baggies a huge boost against Luton Town in a challenging fixture for the side, as their opponents are just one point behind them in the table and a defeat would see West Brom fall into tenth or even further down the table depending on how Preston and Coventry get on this weekend too.