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Carlos Corberan needs West Brom solution with four players to miss FA Cup tie

West Brom will be without a first-team forward when Chesterfield visit for their FA Cup third round replay

Karlan Grant of West Bromwich Albion
Karlan Grant of West Bromwich Albion(Image: Getty Images)

Carlos Corberan won't be able to call on a single senior forward when West Brom welcome Chesterfield to The Hawthorns for their FA Cup third round replay on Tuesday evening - but both young forwards Jovan Malcolm and Reyes Cleary will be involved.


Corberan will be without Brandon Thomas-Asante, who is serving the second of the three-match ban he was stung by for an incident in the original tie, while Karlan Grant won't recover in time and Kenneth Zohore remains absent. Daryl Dike, who played 90 minutes for the first time in an Albion shirt on Saturday and scored in the 3-2 win over Luton Town won't be risked as the Baggies continue to manage his minutes.


Corberan has previously deployed winger Matt Phillips as a number nine, while he also considers Tom Rogic to be a potential option in a similar role, but the Spaniard confirmed that youngsters Malcolm - who travelled to Luton - and Cleary will be in the squad. That was after he confirmed that Grant has not made it and won't be risked as he shakes off a thigh issue.


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"No, he's not going to be available tomorrow and he's probably not going to be available this week," Corberan explained. "The injury was not a serious type of injury, but accelerating his recovery now for Tuesday could create a problem for him - we could increase a problem which isn't serious right now.

"He's not going to be in the team. Dike isn't going to be in the team, because we need to follow the medical protocol and the number of minutes that he is going to be involved. Asante isn't because of suspension, and Zohore cannot be with the team, so unfortunately we've lost the four strikers that we can have. It's clear that I need to find a solution for this position."

The omission of Dike is simply down to advice Corberan has received from the club's medical staff and there is nothing to be alarmed about by the fact that he won't be involved on Tuesday. Dike has, though, come through Saturday's run-out okay and Corberan believes that it will prove to be a mental victory for the US international.


"We need to manage his possibilities. The fact that he did 90 minutes is very important," Corberan outlined. "The game he made gives him one step forward, because he's not played in the first XI for 90 minutes, not for a long time. He hasn't because we didn't think he'd be ready to play 90 minutes.

"What I want is to find the balance between performance and minutes. The other day I thought there was one moment where he had enough habit to play 60-70 minutes. Then, it was a good moment to give him 90. He was suffering in the last minutes of the game, but the fact that he faced that difficulty allowed him, mentally and physically, to be ready to do it again.

"That's a very important step. After this extra period of effort, which he hasn't done for one year, I have the medical advice to not involve him, because even 15 minutes could be an issue with him."


As well as Cleary and Malcolm, Zac Ashworth will once again be involved in the first-team squad and is expected to start again at left-back. Whether either of the two aspiring young forwards get the nod from the off remains to be seen, though.

"We are going to have three young players involved. Some of them are in the first XI and others will be on the bench with a different opportunity. We have different possibilities," he added. "We have the option to play with a false number nine, using Rogic for example in there. We have the option to play Jovan or Cleary as a striker too.

"We can give minutes to Phillips as a striker, or [Jed] Wallace. We don't have a pure number nine but still you have options in the squad who can play in this position. It's a pity that we've lost two of our three main strikers in the space of a week - with Asante and Grant. Zohore is not ready to compete. It is what it is, but we will try to win the game with the options that we have."


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