The medical staff at West Brom will be hoping that as few people as possible, if any, use the club treatment facility.
West Brom will experience player absences during the course of the season, just like every other EFL team. These 46-game campaigns are taxing and demanding, testing the health and fitness of those who attempt to fight their way through them and emerge victorious.
In addition to the possibility of suspension, there is the danger of absence due to health or fitness. You will instantly miss matches if you receive a red card, and a ban is also possible if you receive enough yellow cards over time. Albion and Carlos Corberan will try to manage the demanding schedule that lies ahead of them in 2023–2024 and keep as fit a group as they can during the upcoming months.
The current situation in the treatment room is as follows…
Absence: Quad injury. Reach limped off at Burton in pre-season having suffered a recurrence of the quad issue that had struck him down in April.
Absence: Achilles. Dike suffered the injury in the first half of Albion’s last win at Stoke City, and he will now be missing for a number of months after the third serious injury of his 15-month spell at Albion. He has since undergone successful surgery.
What Tony Strudwick said: “The plan was to get Daryl back around November, December time,” Strudwick added. “He’s progressing well, his operation went really well. He went to the States. He’s back in, his attitude and application has been fantastic.”
Corberan added: “With Dike, he is someone still very young but someone who is mature, too, with a lot of experience and with a lot of commitment to the club. He was with the team in Leeds, in the dressing room, he was there because he is a part of this. I like when I see the injured players being a part of the process because this fact helps the player to better manage emotionally the situation.
Estimated return date: It’s hard to know exactly when Dike will be back wearing an Albion shirt, but what is for sure is that it won’t be until December at the absolute earliest. With such injuries though, it could be that we’ve seen the last of Dike in 2023.
Absence: Kelly was sent on loan to Wigan for the rest of last season in January in order to play regularly again, and he turned in a man of the match performance on his debut in a goalless draw with Blackburn, but he suffered a serious knee injury towards the end of the game and required surgery and a spell on the sidelines.
What Tony Strudwick said: “The same goes for Martin Kelly, who should be back soon – he’s on the grass with the sports science team and we want him integrated back in in August. Martin, when a player gets injured, he was very deliberate in how he wanted to push it forward. He’s gone away and he’s come back in a really good space.
Estimated return date: Kelly was expected to return to first-team training in August.
Absence: Sickness kept Ajayi out of the defeat to Huddersfield before the international break, having come through an ankle issue the week before to feature against Middlesbrough. The Nigerian has, though, represented this country during this break.
What Carlos Corberan said: “The only player who is a doubt is Ajayi, because he has been sick and we’ll need to see how he is today,” Corberan said before Huddersfield. “Depending how he feels, how he progresses from the sickness, we’ll make a decision on tomorrow. He is the only one, right now, who is a doubt for the game.
“He has been unwell, he has been with the doctors, and they decided he couldn’t train yesterday and the day before, so we’ll see how he arrives today, how he is feeling and depending on that he’ll play tomorrow or be out of the team.”
Estimated return date: Ajayi will be back in contention at Bristol City.
