Darren Carter is unlikely to be fit to play for West Bromwich Albion against his former club, Birmingham City, on Saturday after limping out of the match against Arsenal in the League Cup two days ago.
The midfield player, who has enjoyed a fine start to the season, would have provided just the attributes required in the heat of a derby but seems certain to watch proceedings at St Andrew's form the sidelines.
Carter sustained a hamstring injury after 39 minutes of a match that Albion lost 2-0. "Darren had an ice pack on it after the game and we will assess it," Tony Mowbray, the Albion manager, said. "There is a fair chance he will be struggling for the weekend.
"It is more than likely that he has tweaked a few fibres in his hamstring, which is disappointing because, since I've been here, Darren has shown a lot of energy, drive and no lack of quality. It would be disappointing if he does miss the weekend."
Carter has taken his time to settle at Albion since joining the club from Birmingham in the summer of 2004. He burst on to the scene with Blues during the 2001-02 season, making his debut against Albion at The Hawthorns.
Paul McShane, the Albion defender, wants the team to learn the lessons of the defeat to Arsenal. Arsene Wenger, the Gunners manager, had made 11 changes, effectively playing a reserve team, but the Premiership club were still way ahead of Albion in terms of style, skill and intelligence.
"We just weren't at the races — end of story," McShane said. "We need to pull our socks up now and get back to winning ways on Saturday. We can't dwell on defeats like this.
"You learn your lesson for the night and put everything behind you and carry on. It would have been nice to put one over on Arsenal because they had their youngsters out and it was a good chance for us to win.
"It didn't go that way but hopefully we can keep the wins going in the league.
"That's the difference between this league and the Premiership. There is a lot more pace and you could see that in their team. Even though they are young lads, they are very athletic and got around the pitch well. "I felt we were comfortable at the back. Their movement was good and we were always aware of the ball over the top. All credit to Arsenal, they played well but the two goals we conceded were two bad goals. There was a penalty first and then we were a bit messy picking up the free-kick."
