TONY Mowbray has revealed Youssouf Mulumbu was denied the chance to make his Albion debut at Fulham on Sunday due to a thigh injury that is also likely to see him miss the next two games.

The Hawthorns boss also expects Saturday's trip to Everton (ko 12.45pm) to come too soon for Jonathan Greening and Jonas Olsson (both knee).

But he has not totally ruled out the key duo for the visit of Arsenal three days later (ko 7.45pm).

Filipe Teixeira is also touch and go for the Goodison Park trip due to a fractured toe which will today force him to miss training for the second successive day.

"Whether Filipe trains on Thursday, we'll have to wait and see," said Mowbray.

"The main injury he's got at the moment is a fractured toe."

Mowbray says it was a blow to lose Mulumbu, who had impressed in training, during the build-up to the Craven Cottage encounter.

"It's frustrating for the boy," he added.

"He trained very well during our four days away in Spain.

"He's a very enthusiastic and competitive boy.

"For no apparent reason, he felt a thigh problem in training on Friday.

"He pulled up, which was a blow to him and potentially to us, because he might have had a part to play at Fulham.

"You've got to be very careful with a thigh injury.

"Hopefully, it is just a few strained fibres and not a tear because it was very innocuous.

"He's didn't do anything to make it happen, other than the fact he works very hard and continually runs.

"Since the day he walked through the door, he hasn't seemed to stop running!

"It's possibly an intensity injury from working and trying so hard.

"Maybe it's just caught up with him a little bit after a week or two.

"Hopefully, it's not too bad, although I would suggest he probably won't be ready for Saturday or Tuesday.

"We'll wait and see after that."

Greening and Olsson are both making good progress and are back in light training.

But Mowbray insists he will not rush either of them back and risk losing them for longer.

"I don't think either Jonno or Jonas have got a chance for the weekend," he said.

"They're both coming on really well.

"They're out on the training pitch with the physio but they're not joining in full training yet.

"Jonathan might join in some light training on Thursday but, for me, there is no chance of us throwing him in.

"He probably needs a week's training and we'll see how he comes through it.

"You need to train so that when someone catches you, or you get caught in a tackle you're not expecting, it is properly tested.

"That's when the inside of the knee opens up.

"I had a few of those injuries myself during my career and it is something you can protect by tensing your muscles.

"The problem you have with it is when you're in a collision or someone catches you.

"Jonno's not far away but I would suggest he needs some training first.

"I wouldn't rule the Arsenal game out but I would suggest it will come too soon for both of them.

"I think we've got to make sure Jonno doesn't come back too early and then ends up missing another six weeks because the season would be virtually over then.

"We need to make sure we keep him for some very crucial games coming up.

"He's an important player and it's important we don't rush him back and suffer the consequences of him breaking down.

"In an ideal world, we need to get him back and then keep him back for the rest of the season."

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