West Brom land boost for Millwall as Richard Beale prepares for Gary Rowett showdown
Latest West Bromwich Albion news from BirminghamLive includes Richard Beale on team news, Millwall and coming up against Gary Rowett
West Bromwich Albion will welcome joint top scorer Karlan Grant back for the match against Millwall tomorrow.
The striker missed Tuesday’s defeat to Bristol City at The Hawthorns through illness but comes into contention to start at The New Den. Long-term absentees Semi Ajayi and Daryl Dike are unavailable for Richard Beale in what should be his final game as interim manager.
"Karlan had a sickness bug which he's recovered from, so comes into contention,” said Beale. "And the longer term ones are literally a week closer than they were last week, but still in the rehab stage, obviously we're going to be very careful with them, because they're key, important players and we don't want any more setbacks for them.”
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Albion will be facing a Millwall side full of confidence after three successive wins in the Championship. Millwall beat Slaven Bilic’s Watford 3-0 on Wednesday thanks to a hat-trick from Tom Bradshaw.
Before that the Lions defeated Bristol City - who Albion lost to on Tuesday - and Middlesbrough to lift themselves into the promotion picture. Beale has landed a tough final assignment in charge of first team duties.
“They really have (been in form),” said Beale. “They are a big, strong team and have consistently performed over the last few weeks, so we know the challenges that we’ll face. We’ll be ready for them.”
In the opposing dugout to Beale will be Gary Rowett, who worked alongside him during his time coaching at Birmingham City. Rowett, who was linked with the Albion job shortly after Steve Bruce’s sacking, was manager of Blues when Beale was under-23s boss at St Andrew’s.
“He’s a good guy and he’s done a good job there,” Beale added. “It will be good to see him tomorrow. We’ll be doing everything we can to get three points.”
Victory at The New Den could lift Albion out of the Championship’s relegation zone ahead of the anticipated arrival of their new head coach.
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