Irvine: I will have to gamble on fitness

The Baggies boss has put his whole first-team squad on standby to face the Toffees despite admitting several of the new arrivals are still lacking fitness.

That means Joleon Lescott and Sebastian Blanco could make their debuts while Silvestre Varela and Georgios Samaras have not been ruled out, although the pair look unlikely to figure. And Irvine admits he might take a chance with some of his new faces as he looks for the spark to ignite their season after two draws and a defeat from his opening three games.

"We will definitely have to bring players back before they are at the levels they need to be," said the Scot. "That's the way things are, we're not really going to have much choice. Players are going to have to get fitter during the games.

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"Is it a gamble? It is, but hopefully a calculated one because we have plenty of information about them."

Lescott and Blanco played in a practice game against Hull on Tuesday and could come into contention for places on the bench.

Irvine did not rule out Varela or Samaras but both appear unlikely to play having not figured against the Tigers.

Goalkeeper Ben Foster (thumb), defender Gareth McAuley (ankle) and Graham Dorrans (heel) all trained yesterday after returning early from international duty through injury.

Youssouf Mulumbu (hamstring) was due back from DR Congo duty last night with medics on standby to assess the midfielder.

Victor Anichebe (hernia) missed training today and is a doubt but captain Chris Brunt is fine.