West Brom fear Youssouf Mulumbu loss
Tuesday 27th December 2011, 10:59AM GMT.
West Brom were today sweating on the fitness of Youssouf Mulumbu as the midfielder headed for scans on his injured groin.
The reigning player of the season limped out of yesterday’s goalless draw with Manchester City following a recurrence of a long-standing problem.
And Baggies boss Roy Hodgson fears the DR Congo international could now face an extended lay-off while the injury heals.
“He’s had a groin strain for a while now so we will have to have a look at it,” said Hodgson. “I’m hoping it’s not going to be too bad.
“I think it’s something that will keep him out for a little while but let’s hope it’s not too long because he has got himself back in form and he and Scharner have got back to doing a good job in the middle of the park for us. He’s been suffering from a groin injury that we’ve been nursing him through game to game and it’s gone fine.
“His last 10 minutes was 10 minutes too many and if I’d have had some indication he was struggling I’d have taken him off.
“But unfortunately there was no indication or any suggestion he was being hampered by it and as a result it’s turned into perhaps a slightly more serious injury.”
Albion hope that James Morrison will recover from his hamstring injury in time to replace Mulumbu for the New Year’s Day clash with Everton at The Hawthorns.
But they will be without full-back Steven Reid for around a month after knee surgery, although Hodgson today joined the tributes to his replacement, Billy Jones.
The summer signing claimed man-of-the-match honours yesterday on his return to the starting XI. Hodgson said: “I thought Billy was very good. He was a bit unlucky because he got into the team at left-back in place of Nicky Shorey for a while and did perfectly OK. But of course he is much more comfortable on the right side because he is a natural right-footer
“Steven Reid has done so well he has been keeping him out. We always knew the day would come when Steven might miss some games so Billy got his chance.”
UK Sport
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