West Brom arrange a friendly for new-boys

Youssouf Mulumbu and Gareth McAuley both limped out of their respective internationals to give the Baggies yet another injury scare.

Mulumbu bowed out of Congo's clash with Cameroon nursing an apparent hamstring injury, while McAuley was subbed in the second-half of Northern Ireland's 2-1 win in Hungary yesterday.

But boss Alan Irvine is hoping for a much-needed boost tomorrow when he hands several new faces a game in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Hull.

Joleon Lescott, Cristian Gamboa and Silvestre Varela are all expected to figure against the Tigers as they look to catch up on fitness after disrupted pre-season programmes.

And Georgios Samaras and James Morrison have also been pencilled into a star-studded Baggies 'under-21s' line-up and will play some part if they return in good shape from international duty, although Sebastian Blanco is unlikely to be ready to play.

However, boss Irvine still expected a depleted squad to take on Everton at The Hawthorns on Saturday when his side return to Premier League action.

Irvine said: "It's asking a lot of Silvestre Varela, Sebastian Blanco and Georgios Samaras to be ready.

"I'm hoping the Cristian Gamboa is close and that Joleon Lescott will come back in good condition from the United States.

"We have a five-and-a-half or six weeks of pre-season and we have a gradual build-up and we do it for a reason.

"Silvestre Varela hasn't had any minutes at all in a game.

"Cristian Gamboa hadn't had any, Georgios Samaras has had none, Brown Ideye had had 90 minutes in an under-21s game, as had McAuley and Chris Brunt."

"A number of them stepped into a Premier League game having had no football, which is a big ask."

Mulumbu and McAuley were just the latest Baggies players to be injured on international duty following goalkeeper Ben Foster (thumb) and midfielder Graham Dorrans (heel).