Kieran Gibbs and Matt Phillips doubts for Alan Pardew's first West Brom game

Gibbs came off during the 2-2 draw with Newcastle on Tuesday with a gash to his thigh while Phillips tweaked his hamstring in the same game.

It's believed the left-back is more likely to feature than the winger, but Pardew already has Nacer Chadli (hip), Craig Dawson (knee), James Morrison (Achilles), and Chris Brunt (thigh) on the sidelines.

"We’ve got Gibbs and Phillips both struggling a little bit," he admitted. "They might still make it, hopefully.

"The doctor suggests they’re touch and go and they’ll probably have a little fitness test tomorrow.

"We might well have a very young player on the bench on Saturday, we look a bit short squad-wise. The first XI looks ok."

Pardew took his first training session on Thursday and was pleased with what he found.

He refused to reveal whether he would make wholesale changes to the line-up or formation, or stay similar to what has gone on before.

And even though he hopes to inject some 'artistry' to the side this weekend, he warned supporters that his ideas might take hold immediately.

"It was freezing but it was lovely to be back because that's what you miss, the nuts and bolts of the training ground, the smells, the noises, the camaraderie, the feeling only being in team sport can give you," he said. "The reaction of the players and staff has been first class.

"I've introduced a couple of different things, it's very difficult over two days of course.

"The most immediate thing when you walk into a football club is the players' attitude and application, the word before I got here was it was a good group and I have found that.

"There's a real honesty about them and hopefully a lot more quality to come. They feel they can play better and produce better performances and I think they can.

"I think the general performances, particularly the two that Gary took, were good. The effort and the commitment, looking at the stats, has been first class.

"You just want to have a bit of a platform to express yourself and have some artistry on the pitch.

"Looking at the squad I've got, there's no reason why I can't get that on the playing surface. I'm not sure we can get it this weekend but going forward, there are some real quality players here."

Albion haven't won any of their last 13 games in all competitions and have just two wins in 23 Premier League games.

And with Pardew's hands tied up by injuries this weekend, he knows a victory - of any kind - is the most important thing.

"There should be some signs of my style of play on Saturday," he said. "That’s two days of getting what I want into the team. It won’t be completely nailed down of course.

"We’re all different as managers. My style is not necessarily better than Tony’s (Pulis) but it’s different.

"Hopefully we can get a win because that makes up for a lot of issues trust me.

"The most important for any supporter who goes home, whether it’s a little boy or a girl, they turn to their dad or mum and say ‘did we win?’. And they say ‘yeah we won’."

Pardew's first game in the Baggies dug-out is against his former club Palace. He's got plenty of inside information, but doesn't want to overfeed the players on day one and two of his tenure.

"When I've gone into football clubs I've had a good response initially," he said. "I'd like to think I'll do that here.

"You need a bit of luck, of course, and just try and cover as much as you can, without overfeeding the players.

"You can overfeed them with information and detail, it's about getting the balance right, get the right detail in them.

"It's an opposition I know really well so I don't want to overload them, but just enough to give them the confidence to go into the game and we've ticked a lot of boxes and ready to go."