Albion's Chris Brunt an injury doubt

Angry Albion boss Roberto Di Matteo' nightmare scenario came true today as Chris Brunt limped back from international duty with an injury.

The winger, one of the most impressive figures in the early part of this season, picked up a groin injury playing for Northern Ireland against Morocco on Wednesday night.

Brunt only played for 45 minutes but his experience left Di Matteo angry at the scheduling of what he had earlier this week labelled a "pointless" fixture during such a hectic phase of the domestic season.

The head coach said: "Brunt has picked up a groin injury and that really annoys me. We can't say how Chris will be but he's a doubt.

"We've just had a run of playing four games in 12 days and he's played them all - there's been a lot of demand on all our players when the risk of injury always increases. These friendlies were unhelpful.

"We speak to the players, the federations or managers. Everyone has a job to do so it's difficult. Friendlies at this stage of the season make no sense to me.

"If you look at most of the teams, the 'result' players in the teams, the guys they use in the qualifying ties, don't get picked and others get to play 45 or 60 minutes. I'm not sure what you can get out of those games.

"I didn't speak to the Northern Ireland coach Nigel Worthington, but I spoke to the player."

Brunt's injury will be assessed today bu,t at a time when Liverpool are furious at losing Steven Gerrard for a month because of a hamstring problem suffered during a longer than agreed stint for England, Di Matteo's anger further fuels the 'club versus country' debate.

Di Matteo is optimistic Brunt's injury is the only calamity from his squad's midweek international demands.

He added: "FIFA have a rule where they can fine you, so you can't just stop players from going.

"You have to release players."