Matt Phillips will start for Albion against Millwall tomorrow, making his comeback from a four-month injury layoff.
After the season’s last international break, Carlos Corberan’s team returns to Championship action on a trip to The Den.
And with Phillips in the lineup, the visitors, who are now in fifth position, have benefited greatly. He will not make his Stoke debut until at least Saturday week, but he will be included in the squad for Easter Monday’s matchup with Watford and Millwall.
The key Phillips, who turned 33 this month, hasn’t played since he suffered a hamstring tear during the team’s home loss to Leicester at the beginning of December.
Josh Maja, a striker who is nearing recovery from Albion’s other injury,
Despite having trained for a week, Maja is not yet prepared to play against Watford and Millwall, who are ranked sixteenth.
“Both have been training and like we said before, Phillips is in front of Josh in terms of his recovery,” Corberan stated during his press conference on Thursday.
Josh Maja, he still needs to accrue more training days, but I believe we are about a week away from receiving the medical clearance that will let me include him.
“If everything goes well he will be ready to be part of the squad.”
The Scotland international Phillips had been playing well to begin the season, so his injury dealt a serious blow to the Baggies just before the hectic Christmas season.
Upon his comeback, Corberan stated that the winger was not under any pressure.
“Of course when you are a long time without the group you will need some time to be in your best condition to compete in a lot of minutes,” said the manager.
“But he’s not under any pressure; in fact, we’re thrilled that he’s willing to help the squad.
“All players must recover; even if he won’t be able to play this coming week, his comeback is appreciated since he has been an invaluable component of the team since my arrival.
“I think he strengthens the squad because he has been a very important player for this squad and when I have been working here.”
Due to surgery on a quadriceps muscle, Phillips missed the last three months of the previous season. However, he made a strong recovery this season.
“It’s always good to have him back,” Corberan stated. “Last year, we lost a lot of players at once. Grady and Phillips both had long-term injuries. Rogic was out of commission, Grant was experiencing quad issues, and Reach returned for the same open-day workout but responded badly with a nasty four-month injury in his quad as well.
“We accumulated injuries. Okay after the first game back, I think Millwall after the international break, then Molumby and when Chalobah was playing for Okay was injured too. Palmer too. We accumulated many injuries in the same period. It is something we want to avoid because if you have a lot of injuries you lose the strength of the squad.”
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