The 7 players set to miss West Brom v Birmingham City - £3.5m man features | OneFootball

Albion and Blues will face off in a West Midlands showdown at The Hawthorns on Wednesday night

With the Championship returning to the agenda over the course of the weekend, second-tier action is well and truly back as clubs across the division are now in the thick of the schedule's latest three-game week.

One of the most high-profile encounters throughout the midweek round of fixtures sees West Bromwich Albion take on local rivals, Birmingham City, at The Hawthorns on Wednesday night, with former Tottenham Hotspur assistants Ryan Mason and Chris Davies facing off as managers for the very first time.

Albion head into this West Midlands battle looking to record back-to-back home wins and will hope for an immediately positive response as they threw away a 2-0 lead against league leaders, Coventry City, in front of the Sky Sports cameras on Saturday lunchtime.

Meanwhile, Blues rounded off a historic week and celebrated 150 years of history in style with a 4-1 rout over Norwich City at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park just hours later, and will look to record just a third away success of the season, having previously emerged victors in trips to Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End.

There are several difference-makers which both bosses will hope to call upon during a fiercely-contested fixture. However, Football League World has looked into the seven absentees across both squads.

Jayson Molumby

The most topical of all absentees is Albion midfielder, Jayson Molumby, who will serve a one-match suspension for the upcoming fixture after receiving two yellow cards against Coventry on Saturday.

Molumby, who had only recently returned from a muscle issue, was issued his first caution by Andrew Kitchen for a late tackle on Ephron Mason-Clark after 31 minutes, before being shown his marching orders four minutes after the interval for another, this time on Josh Eccles, before Albion went on to surrender their 2-1 advantage at the time.

Jed Wallace

The only other known absentee for the Baggies is winger and captain, Jed Wallace, who remains sidelined with a muscle issue in his side's 3-0 defeat to Millwall on October 4th, which has since kept him sidelined for almost two months.

Prior to Saturday's game at the CBS, Mason admitted that the experienced wide player is still yet to return to any kind of training, with the 34-year-old taking a cautious approach to proceedings.

Ethan Laird

The first of four absentees for Davies is versatile full-back Ethan Laird, who has been out of action since Blues' own defeat at Coventry on September 27th.

Having overstretched for a second-half effort, the former Manchester United man suffered a blow to his hamstring, which is to keep him sidelined for a number of weeks and months, despite it being nearly two months since the initial prognosis.

Lee Buchanan

Lee Buchanan's injury issues have been well-documented, though, with the ex-Werder Bremen man suffering a serious knee injury against Blackpool last December.

Yet, despite being omitted from Davies' initial 25-man squad for the opening months of the season, the 24-year-old is targeting a return to action at the start of 2026 after stepping up his recovery process in recent weeks, which will significantly boost competition for Alex Cochrane.

Seung-ho Paik

Seung-ho Paik suffered a shoulder injury in the opening minutes of Blues' 2-1 defeat to Middlesbrough before the international break, with Davies subsequently issuing a hopeful timescale when it comes to the South Korean's return date.

Having waited most of the two-week gap for an initial prognosis, the ex-Jeonbuk Motors man is set to miss out on just weeks' worth of action rather than months, with surgery on the aforementioned blow not required.

Willum Willumsson

Icelandic playmaker Willum Willumsson has been out of action since the first international break of the season, although specific details of his absence still remain unknown to anyone outside the club's EPIC training base.

Football League World exclusively revealed on October 29 that the £3.5 million signing's progress was going smoother than first anticipated, meaning he could return earlier than the initial expected date of after the upcoming transfer window, before Davies revealed ahead of the recent international break that the 27-year-old had returned to light training.

Scott Wright

The final absentee for both sides comes in the form of Scott Wright, who, like Buchanan, was omitted from Birmingham's 25-man squad in September due to a long-standing absence.

On February 22nd, the Scottish winger suffered the second ACL blow of his career in the early stages of a 0-0 draw at Reading, which has kept him sidelined for over nine months now, albeit there is hope that the 28-year-old will make his return to fitness in the coming weeks.