Semi Ajayi out for a few weeks with ligament damage

Nigerian international defender Semi Ajayi will be out for ‘a few weeks’ after scans revealed that the West Brom defender had done ligament damage to his ankle in the draw at Wigan on Tuesday.

Ajayi limped off after just 20 minutes in the 1-1 stalemate, and was replaced by full-back Darnell Furlong. The Nigerian international actually sustained the injury in the build up to Wigan’s early opener, when Latics forward Josh Magennis got the better of him at the back.

There were concerns over both Ajayi’s ankle and knee, and Bruce admitted as much post-match at the DW Stadium, but scan results confirmed that the concern was with Ajayi’s knee, which he’d twisted badly.

In truth, the outcome of the injury actually perhaps isn’t as bad as first feared, although what is clear is that Ajayi, who has started the season generally very well, won’t be an option to Bruce for the foreseeable future.

“He’s got an ankle injury. I don’t want to put a timescale on it. He’ll certainly miss a few weeks,” Bruce said. “That’s certain. We’re unfortunate, what can you do? He’s twisted his ankle badly. These things happen. It’s him now and Dike.

“The games are coming thick and fast and there lies another one – we’ve unfortunately lost a big player. His knee is okay. Whether it was nerve damage from the ankle, we’ve scanned them both. He’s gonna be a few weeks. It’s ligament damage.

“He’s badly twisted his ankle, we’ve got to be patient but it’ll be a few weeks. He’s a tough lad, because he did the injury in the incident before their goal. He played on for 20 minutes, that was a strange one.”