West Brom step up striker hunt after Nicolas Anelka injury
Albion today stepped up their hunt for a striker after Nicolas Anelka was ruled out of Sunday's Hawthorns clash with Liverpool.
The Frenchman limped off after 25 minutes of last night's 4-3 derby defeat at Villa after injuring his knee in a challenge with defender Matt Lowton.
He left the game with stitches to a wound and is set to miss the clash with the Reds – and faces a possible lengthy ban when and FA commission considers his controversial quenelle celebration next month.
Boss Pepe Mel, who was already looking for striking reinforcements, said: "He has a lot of stitches in his knee. At the moment he doesn't have a great chance for Sunday.
"One result doesn't change my opinion about the squad, but if we have the possibility to sign a player during the transfer window I believe we should do so.
"We must try to work to solve the problem that the injury, or indeed the ban to Anelka would cause.
"We don't know how long he will be out. Later today we will know a lot more, but let's hope not."
The Baggies have been linked with Valencia's Brazilian striker Jonas and Inter Milan frontman Ishak Belfodil, but neither is expected to sign before Friday's transfer deadline.
Jonas is not thought to be on the radar while the Baggies have discussed Belfodil but opted not to pursue the player, who is also a target for QPR.
Meanwhile, Mel defended his decision to leave reigning player-of-the-year Gareth McAuley and full-back Billy Jones on the bench last night, with Diego Lugano and Steven Reid struggling badly as the Baggies' back-four imploded.
"I think that in the last game the players played well and I wanted to continue with the team that did well against Everton," he said.
"We need to improve on our mistakes. For instance, the first goal was a big mistake and we need to improve on this.
"I believe our problem in this game was Christian Benteke and not so much our defence. We worked all week on the direct play of Aston Villa and I think this was our problem, not our own defence.
"We are in a relegation battle but the table is tight.
"Three points is big because it puts you out of it. For me the big thing is today because we start work for the next match."
