West Bromwich Albion travel to the Riverside Stadium on Saturday evening to face Middlesbrough in their first Championship game of the new season and Read West Brom predicted that Jake Livermore would start in a deep-lying midfield role as Okay Yokuslu is still building up his match fitness.

Steve Bruce gave an injury update on the 32-year-old, however, which could see Livermore miss out, so Alex Mowatt may get the nod in midfield with Jayson Molumby being more defensive-minded. As per Joseph Masi of the Express and Star, Livermore is ill and will be given a late fitness test to see if he can play.

The 32-year-old will be a loss, as he’s featured heavily in pre-season and has a wealth of experience. Molumby will be able to assume his role, however, as he’s an energetic player who greatly improved during the tail end of last season, so Mowatt will have protection alongside him.

With John Swift likely to start in the playmaker role, Molumby will have to be very disciplined. He’ll be tasked with breaking up play in the middle of the park and ensuring the ball gets to Swift as much as possible. Okay should be a regular when his fitness improves, but Bruce says that might be a couple of weeks as he didn’t have a pre-season.

In other news, Steve Bruce has decision to make between Semi Ajayi and Dara O’Shea