Albion blog - Injury pile-up

The unavailable list continues to grow, particularly on the left hand side of the team and now includes Jerome Thomas, Marek Cech, Chris Brunt, Joe Mattock, Ishmael Miller, Neil Clement, and James Morrison.

The latest addition to the list (Jerome Thomas) probably cost us the opportunity to beat Arsenal on Tuesday night.

Even after his needless sending off we played well and created chances and it's a case of "what might have been", had we kept all eleven players on the pitch. His petulant push in the face of Jack Wilshere was always going to be a straight red card, but I would ask what was the difference between what Jerome did compared to that what Craig Bellamy did to a fan in the Manchester derby?

I hope young Jack never gets a proper slap as his head might actually drop off, yes I was quite disappointed with his theatrics. Yet the team's performance was still encouraging in the face of adversity, and I must say I thought the Emirates stadium was simply awesome. But tomorrow sees us return to our home and the continuation of our fight to get out of this league.

Crystal Palace are like many teams in the Championship, and by that I mean Jekyll and Hyde. Neil Warnock will have them in our faces from the first whistle and we must be ready to match them for effort before being able to play our game.

So let's take a look at RDMs options going into a game with so many players missing. Jara made his debut on Tuesday and looked comfortable at left back, and I expect him to continue in that role on Saturday and I am sure he will be looking to secure a first team place.

I am expecting Filipe Texeira to fill in at left midfield and Koren to step out wide on the right. The problem is neither player prefers to play out wide but it's a case of doing your bit for the team, and both players have the quality to be able to do a job out on the wing. I must admit for the first time this season I have a few fears about tomorrow's game, our shape this season has been very much down to us playing old fashioned wingers and I just hope we don't play too narrow tomorrow with our "stand ins".

It's only up front where a decision is to be made, the defence and midfield pretty much pick themselves with Carson, Zuiverloon, Martis, Olsson, Jara at the back and a midfield four of Texeira, Koren, Mulumbu, and Dorrans. I hope RDM resists the urge to try Reuben Reid wide right again, as he has been less than impressive when played as a winger.

In attack I would go for Moore and Bednar, and I am expecting RDM to do the same, in fact it is the most confident I have been for years and years of actually getting the team selection spot on!!!

I am not so confident of naming the subs though, but I would like to point out to Roberto that I am left footed and available for tomorrow.