West Brom's Jayson Molumby reaching top condition for big campaign

The Baggies’ Republic of Ireland central midfielder, 25, enjoyed and endured a busy pre-season that saw him both return from a long-term injury lay-off and hit the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Molumby missed the entire second half of last season with a foot injury and did not play beyond New Year’s Day at Swansea – after initially picking up the problem at home to Leeds days earlier, the same fixture he is in line to start this lunchtime.

The former Brighton man returned in top shape for pre-season and was among those atop the Albion fitness testing charts in the early days of training. Things took a turn for the worse, however, when he was inolved in a behind-closed-doors warm-up match punch-up involving Real Mallorca’s Samu Costa that was streamed live to the internet and soon went viral.

The incident was – surprisingly to Albion as no red cards were given in the friendly – investigated by the FA and left the midfielder slapped with a £16,000 fine and a bizarre five-match friendly ban.