West Brom vs Cardiff team news as Carlos Corberan provides injury update ahead of facing Cardiff

Kyle Bartley is expected to miss this weekend’s visit of Cardiff with his knee issue. The experienced centre back has not recovered from the Oxford game so Carlos Corberan was forced to hand versatile new signing Paddy McNair his league debut at Blackburn on Wednesday night alongside Semi Ajayi and in the continued absence of Everton loanee Mason Holgate and he is expected to keep his place on Saturday after helping to keen a clean sheet. Holgate was set to return to training Thursday.

Corberán confirmed: “Bartley let us know during training that his knee had not recovered properly from the previous game. I don't think he'll be ready for the game against Cardiff on Saturday, but we will have to wait and see how the knee reacts in the next few days. Mason Holgate, who was also injured, will train on Thursday.”

Assessing the 0 0 draw with Blackburn, Corberán says they could have won but will continue to work: “I really value the effort the players have put in to take a point away. Every single team who has played there so far in the league have lost. Blackburn had got five wins from five here. It’s important to value the competitive level the team has put on the pitch to achieve the draw.

READ MORE: Daryl Dike gets West Brom injury 'green light' as Josh Maja link up is discussed

READ MORE: Carlos Corberan on Devante Cole 'regret' and the challenge for West Brom's fringe players

“Of course, the draw is not the result we want and we don’t view the point as a good point, but we will put the effort of the players down as a good point. We are going to work more and more to the find the solution to help us find three points.

“It’s true that the team has done enough good things to get a better result. For me the team understood the game well and they were very aggressive. We found ways to achieve the control of the game in some moments.

“If you played the game very open, with the speed they have in attack, it would’ve been a difficult game to manage.

“I like that the team, especially in the second half and in the last minutes, controlled the game much better. We only lost the ball once in the middle of the pitch which led to them having a chance through a counter.

“In general, we had more possibilities to get something else and to achieve three points. It’s important to create the chances and to keep growing in attack without losing solidity in defence. There were actions where we could have used the ball better and we’ll continue to work on that.”

The point apiece leaves both sides locked on 19 points after 11 games albeit Albion have a superior goal difference and therefore sit in fourth position in the table.