Stoke City vs West Brom team news as Bae Junho verdict delivered

Stoke City are back at the bet365 Stadium to take on West Bromwich Albion in the Championship

Bae Junho has looked sharp in training this week as he bids to make his first start of the season for Stoke City against West Brom (Saturday, 3pm).

The player of the year missed the end of pre-season and start of the real stuff due to a thigh injury, but he made his return to training late last week and got on the pitch as a substitute in the defeat at Watford. Now he is hoping to come back into Steven Schumacher’s thinking and kick start a campaign when so much is expected on an individual basis.

“He’s brilliant, a brilliant player and he was only 21 on Thursday as well, unbelievable,” said Schumacher. “It was good to get him back on the pitch at Watford and he played 25 minutes or half an hour. He’s trained this week and looked nice and sharp so, if selected, fingers crossed he has a good game.”

Stoke v West Brom: Lewis Cox’s predicted line-up

It may not be the most exciting team news come 2pm at Stoke on Saturday but Carlos Corberan may be tempted into another unchanged Championship line-up.

Attacking midfielder John Swift has played in a deeper midfield role in Albion’s opening couple of games of the Championship campaign. (Photo by Adam Fradgley/West Bromwich Albion FC via Getty Images).

Albion’s head coach could be forgiven for adopting an ‘if it isn’t broke don’t fix it’ approach at the Bet365 Stadium tomorrow.

Though the head coach emphasised at his press conference on Friday that regardless of where the fitness and physical levels of his options are he will always take into account the strengths and weaknesses of Albion’s opposition.