West Brom's trip to Man Utd disrupted after two players test positive for Covid
Slaven Bilic’s preparations for Manchester United have suffered a blow with two more of his West Brom players testing positive for coronavirus.
Bilic will be without the duo - who Telegraph Sport are declining to name due to confidentiality - for Saturday’s trip to Old Trafford in West Brom’s second Covid-19 scare of this month.
Both players were in the matchday squad for West Brom’s 1-0 defeat to Tottenham on November 8 and are currently in self-isolation after delivering positive results.
Bilic was without Branislav Ivanovic and Matheus Pereira for the Tottenham defeat after positive tests and has now experienced further frustration as Albion seek their first Premier League victory.
Members of Bilic’s backroom staff are also understood to have contracted the virus, with local area Sandwell one of the highest in the country for infection rates.
Ivanovic and Pereira are back in contention for the United match, however, while striker Callum Robinson is also set to be available after pulling out of international duty with the Republic of Ireland duty after testing positive last week.
“Matheus and Branislav are back in training because they have done the quarantine and tested negative,” said Bilic.
“[But] we have a few players who were positive, so they did not train for 10 days. It is confidential. We had a few, but we cannot say the names.
“There is nothing you can do, you have to be aware of the situation that may occur because of that.
“You can’t plan 'we are going to play like this', without having a Plan B or alternatives. It is not that it may happen, it is going to happen unfortunately, not just for us, but for every team it is going to happen.”
Albion are 18th in the table after playing eight games since promotion from the Championship.
