Albion hope bad news won’t come in threes
WEST Brom face an anxious wait over the fitness of Ahmed Hegazi, Jacob Murphy and Hal RobsonKanu ahead of the Leeds clash on Friday night.
Defender Hegazi limped out of the defeat to Sheffield United on Saturday with an ankle problem.
Tests have revealed what appears to be only a minor strain rather than ligament damage.
The Egypt international, who has only missed five Championship matches this term, remains a major doubt to face Leeds, but will be given every available opportunity to recover.
Albion are thought to be more hopeful on the fitness of attackers Murphy and Robson-Kanu.
Murphy missed Saturday’s game against the Blades with a muscular strain sustained in the win at QPR a week ago.
Three matches in little more than a week, after hardly featuring for parent club Newcastle this season, took its toll on the 24-yearold.
“Four games in ten days was just a bridge too far,” Moore had said. One of three players signed on transfer deadline day, Murphy has scored two goals in five games since arriving on loan and was just starting to hit top form.
Robson-Kanu has been sidelined since scoring in the derby win at Villa. The Welshman was taken off at half-time after aggravating an old hip injury. That has since settled down giving him an outside chance of making the bench at Elland Road.
The Baggies’ stuttering home form continues to hamper their promotion prospects.
“I put that down to teams putting men behind the ball, making it really difficult and not wanting to play open football,” Moore said.
“Which is no problem, that is the way it is, that’s the way their tactics are. So at the moment our results have been coming on the road.
“But we want our home fans to see us win and we will be looking at that before our next home game.
“It’s up to us to try and find ways and means around it. But we’ve got another tough game away from home coming up next.”