West Brom man pushing for return before action pauses next month

He did not feature in any of the final three fixtures under former boss Eric Ramsay, who was sacked in the wake of Tuesday's 1-1 home draw against Charlton.

Mepham, the former Brentford and Bournemouth man, has endured a below-par stop-start debut campaign at The Hawthorns.

But the centre-back performance last time out in the rare clean sheet against the Potters was one of his best in navy blue and white stripes, before Mepham limped off with the muscle problem in the final 10 minutes.

His absence was part of a defensive headache for Albion's former head coach, who at one stage had Wales international Mepham, Krystian Bielik and George Campbell all ruled out with injury. They were then joined by Nat Phillips, who picked up a heavy concussion.

The picture has eased up now, however, and interim boss James Morrison has options to select from for Saturday's critical clash at second-bottom Oxford United.

Albion play five of the remaining 12 fixtures this season prior to the final international break of the campaign towards the end of March.

The hope is that Mepham may return to contention before the final clash prior to the international sign-off, at Bristol City on March 21.

Relegation-battling Albion kickstart the post-Ramsay era at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday with Morrison bidding to make a positive impression to keep the job on a longer-term basis.

Just one place and point separates Albion and the bottom three as strugglers seek a first league win in 11 games to ease growing relegation fears.