Club News

Boss: Injury situation improving

Clarke hopeful he will have one or two players back for Reading trip

STEVE Clarke says Albion’s injury situation is improving and hopes to have a near-fully fit squad to choose from within the next fortnight.

The Baggies boss this week lost Zoltan Gera to a knee injury for the rest of the season and has Youssouf Mulumbu away on African Nations Cup duty with DR Congo.

Jonas Olsson (groin), Steven Reid (shin), Claudio Yacob, Goran Popov and Marc-Antoine Fortune (all hamstring) are all currently sidelined.

But, with a Barclays Premier League trip to Reading on Saturday (ko 3pm) and an FA Cup replay with QPR three days later (ko 8pm), he revealed the injured quartet are all edging closer to a return to action.

“The injury situation is improving,” said Clarke.

“At this time of year every club has injuries.

“You play so many games in a short space of time that you’re always going to pick up injuries from week to week.

“We’ve got nobody who is looking like being out long term, apart from Zoltan.

“The rest of them are improving and I’m hopeful I’ll have one or two back for this weekend.

“And I’ll hopefully have one or two back for the cup tie in midweek.

“Given a reasonable run over the next two weeks, the squad should be back to full strength.”