Six West Brom players struck down by flu bug ahead of Liverpool clash
Albion's FA Cup hopes have been stung by a flu bug ravaging its way through the senior squad.
Six senior players have been struck down with the illness this week and are now doubts for the fourth round trip to Liverpool.
James McClean, Jay Rodriguez, Ben Foster, Ahmed Hegazi, Gareth McAuley, and Sam Field all have the bug.
Despite that, Baggies boss Alan Pardew has promised to put out a strong side, and has urged his team to play with more freedom in possession.
"We’ve got a little bit of a flu bug in terms of a few players," he said. "We’ll have to see how we go overnight to really assess the team.
"McClean, Rodriguez, Foster, Hegazi and G-Mac so there’s a few. But certainly there’s enough players available to not make too many changes.
"I’d rather be in a stronger position in the league to attack the cup. Having said that we take less pressure into this game.
I"t’s a cup game, there’s no league points at stake. So the pressure is off us to maybe open up the game a little bit.
"That’s obviously what I’ve encouraged them since I’ve been here. We’ll go to Liverpool and try to cause them problems. It’s a daunting task.
"Their last home game (a 4-3 victory over Manchester City) was one of the performances of the season for sure."
Because of the illness to Hegazi and McAuley, Pardew confirmed that skipper Jonny Evans was due to feature in the Saturday night kick-off at Anfield.
"Jonny’s due to start if he’s not sick overnight," said Pardew. "Hopefully he’ll be okay."
Manchester City are pulling out of the race for Evans's signature, but Pardew waved away suggestions Arsenal had offered £10million and Mathieu Debuchy.
"No, that’s not a deal that’s been put to us," he said. "That’s just paper talk. Actually that might be unfair. Someone has released that and it’s not true.
"Jonny is still at the football club, we still haven’t had a bid put to us that’s anywhere near acceptable. Therefore he still remains a West Brom player."
Albion have lined up Zamalek centre-back Ali Gabr to replace Evans if Arsenal make a sutiable offer and Pardew confirmed the club were interested in the Egyptian.
"He’s a player we’re interested in," said the head coach. "Whether it depends on Jonny’s transfer is for our own personal opinion and not yours!"
And the Baggies boss confirmed that Field, who has had five Championship clubs chasing him for a loan deal, was going nowhere.
"Actually Sam's another one with the flu, he won't be involved tomorrow," said Pardew. "But I certainly won't be moving him on."
