EFL Cup: West Brom teens to get the nod for Northampton tie

Even though the squad is still perilously thin, assistant boss Dave Kemp expects a couple of changes to the starting line-up for the League Cup second round match against Northampton Town.

New defender Brendan Galloway completed his season-long loan deal in time to feature and James Morrison is expected to return from a minor hamstring injury.

The Baggies will also use the opportunity to give first-team experience to teenagers Jonathan Leko, Sam Field and Kane Wilson.

All three have been named on the bench for the first two games of the season, but only Leko has been used so far, coming on with 25 minutes to go against Everton.

"Certainly one of them will start I would think, and possibly all three," confirmed Kemp. "They're not there to make up the numbers, they are there with a view to taking a full part in the game.

"We want them to become first team players for West Brom.

"All three have done brilliantly pre-season, but it's always what are you going to do tomorrow in this game, not what you've done in the past. We want to give them opportunities."

Albion's players are also rooting for the youngsters, and Ben Foster is eager to see them play.

"We get to see them in training," he said. "Everybody knows about Leko, he's an incredible talent, but Kane Wilson as a left-back is one of the most promising 16-year-olds I've seen in a long time."

Even though it's five days later, the coaching staff still have the Middlesbrough game at The Hawthorns on Sunday in the back of their minds.

"We obviously want to have a cup run," said Kemp. "The way the world is now you also have an eye on the next Premier League game. Our squad is pretty thin.

"You go into every competition trying to get the best results you can. With cups, everyone knows good performances on the right day and with the right draws you can find yourself at Wembley playing in a cup final. That's where we're at.

"We're at the start of that journey and hopefully we can get a result against Northampton and be in the next round."

Last season's League Cup run was abysmal. Albion needed penalties to squeeze past Port Vale after a drab goalless draw at The Hawthorns before getting hammered 3-0 away at Norwich in the third round.

League One Northampton, who beat Championship side Barnsley in the first round, are on an unbeaten run of 28 games, but Kemp isn't too worried about that.

"Their manager mentioned it might be proving to be a negative," he said. "They are more frightened to lose than playing to win."

But Town, who changed managers in the summer, have only conceded three goals in their opening six games. Kemp knows Albion will have to break down a resilient Rob Page side.

"If they're good on their day and you drop a notch, you're in trouble," said Kemp. "They've made some changes in the summer.

"We've obviously had them watched and made some reports and we're working off that. I've not seen them live this season so we'll have to wait and see."

Albion have sold out their 1,600-ticket allocation for tonight.