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Alan Irvine: Plenty of cover at West Brom for Youssouf Mulumbu

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Albion boss Alan Irvine insists the Baggies can cope during the African Cup of Nations without replacing midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu.

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Irvine reckons they have enough players to deal with the loss of DR Congo captain Mulumbu for up to a month in early 2015.

The fans' favourite has been out of Irvine's first XI for most of the season but has been an almost permanent fixture among the substitutes.

He could miss around half a dozen games after helping his country qualify for the finals in Equatorial Guinea between January 17 and February 8.

But Irvine said: "It is a position where we have got a lot of players.

[comments_cta text="Will Albion suffer without Mulumbu, or is Alan Irvine right to be confident?"]

"We are probably stronger in terms of our options in midfield than elsewhere, so if we do lose Youssouf then it may not be necessary for us to bring someone in.

"And it may not be possible for us to bring someone in of the right level anyway, so I'm certainly not looking, at the moment, to replace Youssouf."

Mulumbu and Argentina international Claudio Yacob have found themselves behind James Morrison and Craig Gardner in recent weeks in the scramble for midfield places. Yacob is an obvious back-up for Gardner and Morrison but his future is uncertain after Russian and French clubs showed an interest in the summer.

Meanwhile, Irvine has not ruled out a loan move for Australia left-back Jason Davidson after he expressed concerns over his lack of first-team action.

"I can understand what he is saying because, obviously, Sebastien Pocognoli has played very well and it has been difficult for Jason to get in," said Irvine.

Jason Davidson

"He probably would feel that it affected his chance of playing for Australia.

"They have the Asia Cup coming up in Australia soon, so he'll be desperate to get playing time."

"But that doesn't mean that it is necessarily the right thing for him to go out on loan."