Hull City without familiar West Brom face as pair face off in pre-Christmas clash
Hull City defender Semi Ajayi will miss out on an Albion reunion on Saturday.
The experienced central defender, 32, has been in excellent form of late for the Tigers after he made the free transfer switch from The Hawthorns to the MKM Stadium in the summer.
But he will not be available for Bosnian boss Sergej Jakirovic to select due to the imminent start of the African Cup of Nations.
Ajayi earned the call from Nigeria to represent the Super Eagles at the tournament in Morocco, which gets under way on Sunday. The former Albion stopper has the chance to add to his 47 international caps in the competition with Nigerian action beginning against Tanzania on December 23.
His absence is a blow for Jakirovic, who told Hull Live: "It's a big headache for us, yes, and all the clubs that have players from Africa, but what can we do? This is the Africa Cup of Nations.
"For those players, this is like the European Championship. They represent their own country, and they are very proud. We are very proud because we have a national team player and we wish him all the very best.
"We have Charlie Hughes, John Egan and Akin Famewo. We have Cathal McCarthy there, so there will be a lot of chances for them as well."
Ajayi has made a place in the Tigers' backline his own since returning from a hamstring injury that disrupted the defender's start to the season with his new club.
He returned from early October, also featuring for Nigeria, and has since become a regular as Hull have impressed to climb to sixth in the Championship in summer appointment Jakirovic's debut campaign.
The Tigers have three wins from their last four games and won at fourth-placed Millwall last time out. They are six points better off than Ryan Mason's Albion, down in 16th. A home win on Saturday would see the Baggies cut further adrift of the play-off region.
Turkish striker Enis Destan is set to return from a hip injury but Joe Gelhardt, Kasey Palmer and Elliot Matazo are sidelined.
A clash at Hull will be a poignant date for visiting boss Mason, who was representing the Tigers when he suffered a career-ended skull injury while in action away at Chelsea in January 2017.
