West Bromwich Albion will be badly in need of a confidence boost when they take on Arsenal in Monday night's Hawthorns crunch.

The midweek failure to beat Blackburn Rovers has piled on the pressure for the Baggies to get a result, especially if their rivals claim points tomorrow.

Crystal Palace must be considered likely to get something at St James' Park, against a Newcastle United side who have run aground in the last month, while someone has to benefit at St Mary's, where basement club Southampton will aim to vault out of the bottom three by beating Norwich City.

Whatever happens tomorrow, it's a fair bet that Albion will go into Monday night needing to win. And, although the fact that FA Cup finalists Arsenal might have one eye on Cardiff will help, it is how the Baggies perform that will count for most.

In that respect, it will be a massive advantage to have Jonathan Greening back from his extremely untimely three-match suspension.

Young Richard Chaplow has done very well in his three games since being drafted in to effectively stand in for Greening following his silly sending-off at Villa Park. But it is hard to imagine that manager Bryan Robson will not go for the extra experience of Greening, such a consistent contributor since arriving from Middlesbrough last summer. And that is certainly the way the Albion dressing room line up on the matter.

"It is crucial that Jonathan is back," said utility man Ricky Scimeca. "He has been magnificent this season and we have missed him."

Defender Martin Albrechtsen is in full agreement. "We have missed his dribbling skills and he can hold the ball," said the Dane. "It is going to be good to have him back."

One only had to talk to Greening's former Middlesbrough team-mate Ugo Ehiogu at the Riverside last Saturday to have it further emphasised that this is a player noticed as much for the hole he leaves in the formation when absent.

"We've really missed him this season," said Ehiogu. "It's ironic that, with the injury problems we've had when it's been all hands on deck at times, he'd have been a fixture here but he just wanted to make sure he had regular first-team football."

With Greening back, Robson has virtually a full squad to choose from to meet Arsenal.

Half the team will have changed since they drew 1-1 at Highbury in only Robson's second game in charge in November. Cosmin Contra is gone and forgotten, Artim Sakiri will not be far behind come season's end, former skipper Darren Purse is out of favour and Darren Moore and Kanu will both only make it as far as the bench.

"We can take heart from getting a point at Arsenal," said Scimeca. "We went there with a plan and a system and it's going to be important again for us. We have to make sure we are not fazed."

Robson said: "We'll have a good go at it. We went down to Highbury and put in a good performance. Now we've got home advantage, so what we've got to do is get about our business and give them a tough game here too."