Bong warns defensive change could make Liverpool even better against Albion

He is pretty tough to get past when he is defending.

You will also have a job convincing the Albion left-back that Liverpool are vulnerable at the Amex today due to their injury problems.

Bong returns to the Premier League starting line-up for the first time in nine weeks, with Brazilian Bernardo (below right) ruled out by hamstring trouble.

Their fellow countrymen are at the heart of the issue which has dominated the Liverpool team news build-up, who will partner Virgil van Dijk in the middle of the defence?

Will it be Bong's Cameroon international colleague Joel Matip, who has only just resumed training after breaking a collarbone?

Or Brazilian midfielder Fabinho, who dropped back alongside the now-injured Dejan Lovren in Monday's FA Cup defeat at Wolves?

Bong does not think it matters. In fact, he cites a former Liverpool midfielder as an example that Fabinho's revised role could actually work in their favour.

Bong said: "I think if it wasn’t a top club I could say yes, it can be tough. But when you are at a top club, they play a different football, they keep the ball. And when you keep the ball, even when you put a midfielder at the back or up front, it’s another football.

"They are keeping the ball and they are playing in this way. If you were playing maybe in our team and you put a midfielder at the back it could maybe be tough because when you have two big central midfielders and if you have to defend long balls you could say it’s going to be tough.

"But if you are a top team, remember Barcelona an couple of years ago when they had Mascherano at the back. We didn’t see the difference because of how they are playing. And sometimes it can be worse because they can keep the ball better at the back, because they are better in possession."

Nor is Bong buying the idea that Mo Salah, who he will be marking, could be fatigued by travelling.

They are from the same continent but Salah's finishing has been on a different planet with the Reds, 60 goals in one-and-a-half seasons.

Salah, after appearing from the bench at Wolves, was in Senegal the following evening to collect the African Player of the Year award.

The next day he was in the United Arab Emirates, crowned as outstanding Arab athlete.

Social media footage exposed some dodgy dancing by Salah at the Senegal ceremony, but Bong (above centre) reckons it will make no difference to the danger of him dancing through Albion's defence.

"No. I'm telling you, these players are doing this all year," he said. "They are travelling, going for the sponsor, and they always find a way to rest as well. If he travels, he might not train, but they will always find a way.

"And we know, a striker can maybe have a bad game, but if you score you did well. But as a defender, you make one mistake and your game is gone. No, they always find a way, this is nothing.

"When I was with Samuel Eto'o with the (Cameroon) national team and sometimes he was away for three days because he had things to do. But in the game he was always on the top because they are used to doing it."

It is already advantage Salah. His country, Egypt, has been selected ahead of South Africa as replacement hosts for the African Cup of Nations finals in June and July.

Cameroon were stripped of the honour due to "security concerns and the slow pace of preparations", denying Bong the opportunity to lead Clarence Seedorf's side out on home soil.

Bong (below left), who represented his country at the 2010 World Cup, was in a self-imposed international wilderness until Seedorf took charge, owing to the type of issues that have cost them the ACN staging rights.

Bong told The Argus: "I was disappointed, and at the same time I was upset because like I have said before for many years, there are things going on in our nation. "Everything is not like in Europe. Everything could be normally done for this African Cup of Nations but something was late, some stadium, some roads and yes I was upset.

"But I think for the Afrcan Nations and for everyone who loves football in Africa, it’s better we play this cup where everything is ready to receive it."

That is for another day. Now Albion receive Liverpool, the memory of their 5-1 demolition job at the Amex last season still fresh for Bong.

He said: "We cannot just treat this game like another game because we know this game is going to be tough.

"I think they maybe the best team in the Premier League, how they play. I remember the home game we played against them, we were good, we had the ball, and then one counter-attack, they scored. They had maybe two or three chances and they scored. I think maybe they are the best team doing that.

"You can play against (Manchester) City and you know they have good players on the ball and they will keep the ball. But you know against Liverpool they will maybe not have it for a couple of minutes in a game and then one chance and they will score.

"That's why we lost last year. I remember at home we were good in the game, we had a couple of chances. They had maybe five chances or four chances and they score. But we learn and we have to be focused and be concentrated on what we are doing."