Kevin Kilbane, signed from Wigan this month, is one of three new players brought in by Phil Brown to try to lift his squad - starting against the Baggies, in one of five Barclays Premier League fixtures tomorrow.

Republic of Ireland international Kilbane admits there can be no room for sentiment against one of his former clubs.

He said: "I thoroughly enjoyed my time there - it is a really good club and it is somewhere I hold dearly to me.

"I'd love them to stay up - but there is no loyalty after you've gone. We have to relax, play like we have all season and hope it will turn for us."

West Brom manager Tony Mowbray will have defender Paul Robinson available, after his red card against Manchester United was overturned by the Football Association.

"We are delighted. It is a boost for everyone - particularly with losing Jonathan Greening through injury," said Mowbray.

Manchester City face a trip to Stoke and will travel with Mark Hughes' insistence ringing in their ears that they must begin to realise their new-found box-office status.

"We are now viewed as a big club - and as a consequence of that, everybody connected with us has to have a big-club mentality,'' the City boss believes.

"The focus on us this year is more than tenfold what it was in the past, and we have to deal with it. It has to be expected, because there is a huge interest in what we do."

Stoke's reality is somewhat different, but their manager Tony Pulis would not swap club chairman Peter Coates ``for the richest sheikh in the world".'

"It's like spending Monopoly money on a board game to a lot of these foreigners," said Pulis.

"What would worry me is the state of the clubs they leave behind when they get fed up playing with their toys."

Bolton, at home to Tottenham, will hope for the right sort of support at the Reebok Stadium - after manager Gary Megson's midweek complaints about Wanderers fans.

Middlesbrough, in the relegation zone after their defeat at Chelsea, need a win at home to Blackburn.

Rovers are still involved in the struggle to stave off City's interest in Roque Santa Cruz - perhaps the longest-running theme of this year's January transfer window.

It will be an especially bitter blow to Blackburn if the Paraguay striker leaves after all - with no time left to find an appropriate replacement.

"There is not the opportunity now to get the quality of striker we need to allow us to even consider letting Roque Santa Cruz move to Manchester City," manager Sam Allardyce explained.

Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia is hoping the Black Cats can build on their midweek win at home to Fulham when they take on neighbours Newcastle on Sunday - although he insists victory in the reverse fixture earlier this season is of no relevance.

After Fulham have sought to set the record straight at home to Portsmouth tomorrow, Sunderland's turn to add more gains will come at St James' Park.

"That's gone now. That was then," Sbragia said of the win already banked against the Toon.

"A lot of things have changed at our club, and a lot of things have changed at Newcastle.

"We know it is going to be a difficult game. We have had three points from them, and it would be nice to get another three. But we know it is going to be a difficult game."

Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear has had to come to term with the loss of two key players for the best part of two months each - with a third potentially leaving before the transfer window closes.

Michael Owen yesterday underwent an ankle scan, Kinnear expecting to be without the England striker for around six weeks - while midfielder Joey Barton has fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot and is anticipated to be out for eight weeks.

It has also begun to look increasingly as though Shay Given will be leaving to join Manchester City.

On the plus side, Newcastle are understood to have submitted an offer to Bolton for Wanderers' captain Kevin Nolan.