Pills and preparation plan to patch up West Brom's Erik Pieters

Dutchman Pieters, 34, has excelled as a emergency centre-half for Carlos Corberan this season but has been nursing a knee problem picked up at Blues on February 10.

The former Stoke and Burnley man, a free agent signing last September, agreed with Corberan he will work a specific schedule to best nurse his knee through any undue stress – while painkillers have also helped. Pieters has, at times, had to limp off late in games.

“After the Birmingham away game, I got a little push and then I felt something in my knee,” Pieters said. “Luckily everything was OK, it was just the fact that it was a bit irritated at that point. Somehow, instead of me giving kicks to attackers, I’m taking the kicks as a defender!

“It’s not nice, and in those busy periods of time, you get a kick and one day you can continue, another day you have a feeling like your knee is completely in pieces. That’s the hard part of the Championship – when you get a knock, you don’t have enough time to recover properly.

“I had to manage that period really well, to make sure it didn’t get worse and worse, every single day after I had to look after myself and then the day before a game I train and make sure I’m ready again. That’s the only thing I could do, and the manager agreed because every time I was on the pitch training, it would get more irritated. That’s why I had to do it that way.”

All nine of Pieters’ previous seasons in English football – six with the Potters and three at Turf Moor – were in the Premier League.

But having been released by the Clarets at the end of last season the former PSV defender found himself without a club as the summer dragged on. He offered himself on trial to Steve Bruce – the duo lived next to each other in Cheshire.

Albion soon entered something of a defensive crisis as Semi Ajayi pulled up with a serious injury in late August. Pieters, who impressed Bruce and staff with fitness levels and professionalism, was snapped up on a one-year deal.

The 34-year-old is learning about the Championship’s challenges at an advanced stage of his career – and has found a ‘mental and crazy’ division.

“When your body feels good it’s fine, but when you have a knock here and there it’s hard to completely recover from the knock,” Pieters said.

“So you just get a painkiller in there and you just go again. The moment you have time to rest, you rest. For me, this is the first time I’ve properly played in the Championship, and it’s a hard league.

“The games themselves aren’t specifically hard, it’s just the amount of games you play in a short period of time. Every single footballer in this league will feel it. It’s mental, it’s crazy.”

Pieters could continue in Corberan’s backline for Saturday’s return to action at home to Millwall in a crucial clash in the race for the play-offs – though the expected return to fitness of Kyle Bartley may challenge his position.

“It’s non stop,” Pieters added. “We know this, having an extended international break was good for us.

“We can clear our minds and be mentally focused for a big amount of games in a short period of time. How do you prepare? You go game by game because you have to, you have no choice.

“After every single game you make sure do the basics – eat well, sleep well, make sure your body recovers sooner rather than later and make sure you’re ready to go again. It’s the only way you can do it in this league.”