Joleon Lescott and Gareth McAuley are likely to miss West Bromwich Albion's Premier League opener against Sunderland.
The centre backs are both struggling with injuries and that leaves their manager Alan Irvine with a major headache.
The Scot said: "We've been short at the back all the way through. We've been trying to find a way to get a team out on the pitch but I'm probably not the only manager who is in that position at the moment.
"We do have options because Chris Baird can play there if we had a problem with Jonas or Craig Dawson. Chris can play centre back and so can Andre Wisdom."
