All change as Albion boss targets Wembley

Irvine is planning wholesale alterations for the Capital One Cup third-round clash and could field an entirely different side to the one that won at Tottenham in the Premier League.

But the Scot, who was a League Cup finalist as a player with Everton, is adamant he wants his side to go all the way.

"It's a competition I think is very important," said Irvine. "And it's not more important or less important after Sunday's result.

"I have always felt the League Cup was a big competition. I was fortunate enough to play in the final of the League Cup in 1984 and that was a brilliant occasion.

"I am certainly not going to change my view about it.

"I didn't as an assistant manager at Everton. I thought it was extremely important, and as manager at Preston and Sheffield Wednesday I also thought it was vital.

"Without a doubt, it's an important competition. I have never seen fans of any club being disappointed to go to Wembley and play in a cup final. It would be brilliant if we could go and do that."

Irvine is still expected, however, to make mass changes as he looks ahead to Sunday's Premier League clash with Burnley.

And that could mean the club's former first-choice centre-back pairing of Gareth McAuley and Jonas Olsson are reunited along with the one-time senior midfield partnership of Youssouf Mulumbu and Claudio Yacob.

Record signing Brown Ideye and fellow summer arrivals Cristian Gamboa, Jason Davidson and Sebastian Blanco could also figure.

But Joleon Lescott and Stephane Sessegnon are unlikely to play after making their first starts of the season at Tottenham.