Joleon Lescott a born leader, says West Brom boss Alan Irvine

Boss Alan Irvine has hailed Joleon Lescott as a West Brom captaincy candidate and claimed the defender's leadership skills will be key to keeping the Baggies safe from Premier League relegation.

The former Everton and England man looks set to skipper Irvine's side at Hull this afternoon and could lead them out against boyhood heroes Villa in next Saturday's Hawthorns derby if Chris Brunt fails to recover from a hamstring problem.

And Irvine believes his summer signing will play a pivotal role in their battle against the drop.

"Joleon has been terrific," said Irvine. "He isn't a person who does a lot of shouting.

"He's quite calm in the way he goes about things but obviously he has got the respect of all the players.

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"He is a very good player, we knew that right from the beginning when we were going to bring him in and his performances have been of a level that I kind of expected them to be because of the type of player he is and because of the type of person he is.

"He is great to have around.

"You need strong characters. You need leaders. There's absolutely no question of that because unfortunately, once the whistle blows, then it's very difficult for you to affect things that are happening on the pitch from the touchline.

"You can stand there shouting as loud as you possibly want and try to get messages on to people but it is very difficult once the game has started.

"So you need the players who have a good understanding of what is needed at that particular stage in a game in order to try to get things right."

Lescott, who rejected the chance to join Hull in the summer in favour of a move to The Hawthorns, has been a Premier League ever-present since making his injury-delayed debut at Tottenham and has won over Baggies fans despite starting his career with arch-rivals Wolves.

He took the captain's armband when Brunt was injured in Tuesday's 2-1 defeat at home to West Ham.

And he appears to be the leading contender to deputise for the Northern Ireland international with vice-captain Jonas Olsson recovering from surgery on his Achilles tendon, having fallen out of favour at the start of the season.

"He's certainly one of the candidates," said Irvine. "He's definitely got the kind of qualities that would make a captain."