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Vincent Kompany is set to return to the heart of Manchester City’s defence to guide the Blues through stormy foreign waters.

The Blues skipper will find out on Tuesday whether he will return to action in Wednesday night’s vital away clash at West Bromwich Albion, as Manuel Pellegrini’s team seeks to improve a dreadful away record of four defeats from six.

Kompany has been training with the first team squad since last week and is tipped to step back into the heart of defence at the Hawthorns.

And his influence will be a calming factor on a City team which has been outstanding on the attack, but has often looked nervous and vulnerable at the back.

Yaya Toure has flagged up Kompany’s return as a key moment – the big Belgian has only played in one of the Blues’ four away defeats, the mysterious 3-2 loss at Aston Villa, when they outclassed the Brummies for most of the game.

“Our captain Vincent Kompany is coming back and everything will settle down,” said Toure, ahead of two away matches which will indicate whether his team’s away form has been a temporary aberration or a more serious affliction.

After the difficult trip to West Brom, City head for surprise package Southampton on Saturday. The Saints have conceded just two goals at home and last season shocked the Blues with a 3-1 win at St Mary’s.

City’s only away win in the Premier League this season came at West Ham in October – they have lost at Cardiff, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Sunderland, and were lucky to escape from Stoke with a goalless draw.

But the Blues can take comfort from the fact that they actually played very well at Villa and Chelsea, and dominated Sunderland territorially but without finding their cutting edge.

Kompany offers influence on the whole team, as well as adding pace, authority and organisation to a back four which has been in patchy form.

He returned to full training last week after a thigh injury he sustained against Everton on October 5, but the City medical staff – and Belgium’s national team physio - have urged caution over throwing him back in too soon.

Kompany was not risked in the two home games against Viktoria Plzen and Swansea, but West Brom would be the perfect stage for him to step back.

David Silva and Stevan Jovetic are not expected to be fit, and Matija Nastasic is out, while one or two minor knocks are being assessed.

Said Toure: “We need to start from somewhere to get the win. We have two away games, West Brom and then Southampton, which will be quite a hard game.

“It’s a big test for us because we need to change this run and try to be at the top. These couple of weeks we have shown how strong we are at home, but in this Premier League you have to do the business away as well.

“We have to stay close to the big rivals. Arsenal and Chelsea are doing well and they win away as well as home, that’s the difference. I hope the team can do well against West Brom and Southampton and I think it’s going to be fine.”

City were not firing on all cylinders on Sunday but still had too much for Swansea, who in the first half threatened to ruin the Blues’ 100 per cent home league record.

The Swans faded after the break, which Toure put down to their exertions against Valencia in the Europa League in midweek, while City had the luxury of resting players in their dead-rubber Champions League match with Plzen.

“The important thing was to win,” said Toure. “We know how difficult it was to play against them. Swansea are a good team and the first half was quite difficult for us, but the second half we did the job.

“They played on Thursday and the second half they looked quite tired. As the manager said, you can’t always win by six, five or four goals. The first five minutes was intense for us.”