West Brom boss: Jonathan Greening vital to survival hopes

Mar 3 2009 by Christopher Lepkowski, Birmingham Mail

JONATHAN Greening has been earmarked for a vital role between now and the end of the season.

The Albion captain made his return from a knee injury in Saturday’s defeat at Everton.

Greening, who recovered a week or so earlier than expected, came off the bench and may be in line to start against Arsenal tonight.

Mowbray feels the ex-Middlesbrough man makes Albion tick.

“I don’t know if he is ready for 90 minutes yet,” said Mowbray, who will have to wait until the trip to West Ham in 13 days time before Jonas Olsson and Youssouf Mulumbu are fit.

“We wanted Jono to get his legs going.

‘‘It was good for him because it’s important to get over the psychologicial barriers.

“The bottom line is that we have to have our best players on the pitch week in, week out to give ourselves the best chance of winning matches.

“Any players that we feel are our better players are missed hugely by us when they’re not there.