West Brom to monitor Brandon Thomas-Asante ankle injury

Thomas-Asante rolled his ankle in the EFL Cup defeat at Stoke in midweek, in which he came on from the bench to equalise, and played no part in Saturday's 3-2 winning Hawthorns opener against the visitors from south Wales

Carlos Corberan was left having to rely on Matt Phillips up front and started without a recognised striker, with new signing Josh Maja a substitute for the first time. Thomas-Asante has had a scan that showed damage, though the head coach was reluctant to give much of a time-frame aside from assessing and hoping for the best.

The head coach also hinted possible regret at turning to Thomas-Asante in the League Cup, though admitted his "respect" for Albion and the fans made him want to send on the best players in search of salvaging the cup tie in the Potteries.

Albion are next in action at Leeds on Friday night and it remains to be seen whether the former Salford man can recover to feature at Elland Road.

"It's complicated," the boss admitted. "I respect my club and my fans a lot. That is why I made a decision, but at the same time I have to be smart in managing the minutes of the player.

"The fact that Asante didn't have a replacement, because Maja right now I cannot consider a replacement, in a couple of weeks but not right now, maybe I should've managed the game against Stoke in a different way and don't give the option for Asante to play a single minute.

"As a coach I have the responsibility to win football games. I have a lot of respect for every fan who travelled to see the best possibility of the team, trying to win the game. This is the option we must always have.

"I was taking a risk because Asante didn't have a replacement right now, but football is about winning games and you have to make decisions even knowing the injuries we have.

"With Furlong we didn't take the risk. With Phillips, after his injury this year, we didn't take the risk. Wallace felt a pain in his hamstring after Blackburn. He didn't make any training this week, until the day before the game. That's why we must increase the possibilities of the squad to be the most competitive team."

Albion did not struggle with the lack of a recognised striker against Swansea, with Corberan's men 3-0 to the good after an hour – through Semi Ajayi, an own goal and John Swift – before they almost succumbed to a late Swansea onslaught, in which the visitors pulled two goals back and went close to a late leveller.

The boss explained Albion will now focus on monitoring how Thomas-Asante reacts to treatment. Maja, who played the final 20 minutes including stoppages, is unlikely to be ready to start at Leeds, leaving some thinking to do the week ahead. Daryl Dike's is still working his way back from a lengthy Achilles absence.

"He turned his ankle. The fact that he was warm he kept playing with pain, but the problem isn't when you're playing – the problem is the pain you have after the game," Corberan added. "The next day he received treatment and he had too much pain and there was inflammation.

"We sent him for a scan, and the scan showed there was a negative situation, showing that the player was injured. Now we need to see how the player reacts, but I don't want to tell you something like I've told you last year with Okay (Yokuslu's lengthy absence), so we need to see how he is and to solve the situation with the players we have.

"For me it's always hard to not have a striker in the team, but my way is not to be frustrated by the things, to find the solution.

"Today to compete without him affected the way we wanted to approach the game. Hopefully we recover him soon because he's an important player, especially at this moment without an alternative to the number nine or with the other striker (Maja) still not ready to help the team more than 20 minutes."