Victor Anichebe battles injury for West Brom

West Brom boss Alan Irvine has revealed striker Victor Anichebe is still battling with a groin injury for Saturday's Hawthorns derby against Aston Villa.

The Baggies forward was only passed fit to play in last weekend's goalless draw with Hull City on the morning of the game, after fresh discomfort from the groin injury he had surgery on in the summer.

But Irvine is optimistic the former Everton man can be patched up again to face the Baggies' local rivals at the weekend.

He said: "I'm hoping so. There was a bit of work that had to be done to get him onto the pitch at Hull.

"It was only on Saturday morning that it was confirmed that he was going to be OK to play. It's still the groin problem that's he had. He's still battling through that at the moment."

And Irvine is keen to keep Anichebe in action after an impressive first 25 minutes at the KC Stadium, during which he won the penalty that was saved by goalkeeper Allan McGregor from Graham Dorrans.

Irvine said: "He's been terrific when he's played. I'm not sure if there is anybody better with their back to goal than Victor.

"When he's in that form he is almost unplayable and he was a huge problem for Hull.

"It was a massive disappointment that he wasn't able to continue in the second-half because he was certainly a very effective player for us.

"The medical team are working as hard as they can to help him through it. And full marks to him, he's doing everything he can to get through

it, at this moment.

"He is doing a lot of strengthening work and he's doing a lot of 'pre-hab' work and it might just be that he gets up one day and thinks 'good, I seem to be OK now.' I hope so."

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