West Brom suffer blow as Russell Martin confirms Southampton injury boost

The former Birmingham City striker missed the first leg of the Championship play-off semi-final through injury but it’s hoped he can play his part at St Mary’s Stadium. West Brom will be confident they can handle any Southampton player after Sunday’s impressive defensive shutout, though dealing with second top scorer Adams may prove to be a different kettle of fish.

“Hopefully we’ll have Che back for Friday,” Martin said during the weekend’s post-match press conference. “We were hoping he’d be here for this one but risk outweighs the reward. We’ll get him on the training pitch over the next days and see how he reacts. He’s important,” Martin admitted.

It remains touch-and-go if Adams will be in the starting lineup but the 27-year-old is expected to at least make the squad. The Baggies, meanwhile, have a less favourable situation with one of their strikers as Josh Maja is unlikely to play his part.

Carlos Corberan unveiled on Sunday that Maja was left out due to a lack of Championship minutes. Andi Weimann was preferred due to slightly better fitness and that’s probably going to be the case again on Friday.

“I made the decision to involve Andi because during and after the injury of Maja, I’ve tried in many ways to make him fit and make him ready. I gave him game time in the under-21s games,” Corberan said.

“Unfortunately I don’t think he has achieved enough number of Championship minutes to arrive fit enough to face a team like Southampton. You know you need to defend with a lot of work, you need to be fit and ready, mentally and physically for the challenge.

“This game, I have decided Andi Weimann - after analysing in a lot of detail - has arrived in better physical condition than Josh. I was pushing Josh in every type of situation I could push. Unfortunately there were games I did not give minutes to achieve his level,” Corberan continued.