Tony Pulis hopes competition helps fresh Salomon Rondon rediscover his 'hunger'

The Venezuelan has been relegated from first choice to third choice striker over the summer, but he’s expected to start up front against Accrington Stanley tonight.

Hal Robson-Kanu is suspended for the second round Carabao Cup match and Jay Rodriguez is due to be rested.

Pulis admits Rondon was forced to do a lot of donkey work as the lone striker last season, and he hopes the ability to rotate his forwards more regularly will help his £12million signing.

And he wants Rondon to start giving him a real selection headache up top.

“He's needed a rest,” said Pulis. “Hopefully we'll get him back to where he was, with that hunger and desire that makes him such a good player.

“Jay’s come in and done well, and Hal has had a good pre-season. Its’ really nice, Salomon needed competition.

“He carried a lot last year, and I mean a lot on his shoulders. Even in pre-season he looked tired, more than anything else. This will take the weight off his shoulders, I’m sure.

“But Salomon has to step up to the mark now.”

League Two Stanley have won all three of their games at the Wham Stadium so far this season but the Baggies have picked up two wins from two in the Premier League, and Chris Brunt hopes that momentum will carry them through a tricky away tie.

“Accrington will be a tough game, they'll be up for it,” he said. “They got a decent result in the last round, we're a bit thin on the ground at the minute with bodies so I'm sure we can't make too many changes.

“It'll be a tough game but one obviously we want to try and win and keep the momentum going into the Stoke game on Saturday.”

Baggies fans were left frustrated last season when the side fell at the first hurdle to lower-league opposition in both the League Cup and the FA Cup.

Brunt is looking to go deep in a cup this year but admitted that Premier League survival remained the primary objective.

“It just depends how your season is going really,” he said. “It's probably a bit early to say, but for 14 out of 20 clubs, making sure you're in the Premier League next year is your main goal and you take whatever comes after that.

“We're no different to that, but it would be nice to do a bit better than we did last year. Going out at the first stage is never nice especially against lower-league opposition.

“But cups are difficult games, especially away from home. We'll have to prepare properly.”

Meanwhile, Stoke are ready to pounce for Kevin Wimmer if Pulis decides to pull the plug on a £15million deal for the Tottenham defender.

The Baggies hierarchy have agreed a fee with Spurs and are waiting for Pulis to green light the deal.

Albion winger Matt Phillips has been named in the Scotland squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Lithuania and Malta but James Morrison has not been included.