On Loan Liverpool Star Suffers Injury Blow & Faces 4 Weeks Out Injured
West Brom's season has gone from bad to worse after Daniel Sturridge was ruled out for a month with a hamstring strain.
The on loan Liverpool star, who had been brought in to fire in the goals to prevent the Baggies falling out of the Premier League, picked up the injury just three minutes in only his third appearance for them and missed the 2-1 defeat to Huddersfield Town as a result.
The Mirror has now reported that Sturridge will be out of action until the start of April - a bitter blow to Alan Pardew who is under massive pressure to try and haul West Brom off the foot of the table with only 10 league matches left to play.
The former Crystal Palace manager apparently only has one more game to save his job following that shock home loss to the Terriers, and losing Sturridge for that crunch clash with Watford will have Pardew tearing his hair out.
Pardew had hoped to have the 28-year-old back in contention to start within a fortnight, but scans have revealed that the problem is more extensive than initially thought.
West Brom had fought off competition from Newcastle to land Sturridge on a six-month loan deal from Liverpool in the January window as the England international eyed more regular game time.
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That was with a view to booking his place on the plane as part of the Three Lions' squad for the World Cup in Russia, but that too is now under threat due to his most recent injury setback.
Sturridge has only played 77 minutes' worth of football for the Midlands outfit in the past month and would need to have a spectacular - and injury free - final month of this term for Gareth Southgate to consider selecting him for the international tournament in June and July.
Salomon Rondon and Jay Rodriguez will now be expected to try and bag the goals needed by West Brom to ensure another unlikely survival success akin to the one they enjoyed in the final moments of the 2003/04 campaign.