Early Wolves team news v West Brom in FA Cup as updates emerge from Molineux
Gary O’Neil has shared that Wolves will likely have Pablo Sarabia and Rayan Ait-Nouri available against West Brom at The Hawthorns on Sunday 28 January.
Despite the gulf in league statuses, the Baggies may be given a real shot at reaching the FA Cup Fifth Round, with some of the Wolves players either injured or busy with international duty.
The Express & Star have shared three players who won’t be playing in the derby though, with Joao Gomes, Hwang Hee-Chan and Boubacar Traore all having a 0% chance of featuring.
In his recent press conference, O’Neil first spoke about the two returning players: “Rayan [Ait-Nouri] will be back and in the squad.
“Pablo got a knock on his calf and hasn’t trained yet, but I envisage he’ll be fit. We’re monitoring him. The rest of the lads are fine and completed training today. Making sure Pablo is fit will be important to us.”
Gomes though, is serving a suspension with Hwang and Traore away at the Asia Cup and African Cup of Nations respectively at this moment in time.
Positive spin
Of course, the possible returns of Sarabia and Ait-Nouri will be scary prospects for West Brom but the visitors will be light in midfield at The Hawthorns.
Without the threat of Gomes, and a usual replacement in Traore away on international duty, there is little O’Neil can do to freshen up his midfield ahead of the Black Country derby.
On-loan Manchester City youngster Tommy Doyle has been allowed to prove himself alongside Mario Lemina in the centre of the park. However, that only leaves Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, who has only made eight starts for Wolves and 21-year-old Joe Hodge as replacements.
With the midfield pairing of Okay Yoskuslu and Alex Mowatt, the Baggies may be able to control the game’s tempo and throw Wolves off the scent of victory.
Ait-Nouri will be a real threat to West Brom but having only just come back from AFCON, probably deflated about being booted out early, that may be a weakness for Carlos Corberan’s side to target during the tie.
In other West Brom news, a potential new sacrifice has been mooted for the Baggies during the January transfer window
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