Irvine: Ideye set to play against Sunderland

The Nigeria striker, West Brom's record signing, stated earlier this month that he did not expect to face Gus Poyet's side due to his pre-season being limited as he awaited a visa and work permit in his homeland.

Irvine only met Ideye at the start of this week, but the former Dynamo Kiev man has made a good impression on the Scotsman and scored twice in a 3-1 victory for Albion Under-21s against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.

Former Sheffield Wednesday boss Irvine expects Ideye to make his Premier League debut this weekend, despite not having a full season under his belt, given the lack of alternative options at his disposal.

Irvine told the club's official website: "We're going to have to put people in our squad who haven't done as much in pre-season as I'd have liked.

"Brown is ahead of where we feared he might be, which is great news.

"Hopefully he'll be able to play some part, as will some of the other boys who have missed pre-season.

"It's important to have that. We've got some good young players here but we haven't got too many who are ready to play Premier League football at this particular time.

"They've done well over pre-season and been a great help in terms of training because they've given us numbers

"Imagine the size of the group if we hadn't taken half-a-dozen youngsters to Sacramento (for a pre-season tour and training camp) with us."

Irvine also revealed that midfielder James Morrison came through a training session on Tuesday as he builds up his fitness following a knee operation and also hopes new signing Cristian Gamboa will soon link up with Albion as he awaits a visa.