STOKE City forward Peter Odemwingie will not be fit to face former club West Bromwich Albion this weekend.
The Nigerian is struggling with a hamstring injury and will have to watch from the sidelines at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
Odemwingie was the Baggies’ top scorer in 2010/11 and 2011/12 with respective Premier League tallies of 15 and 11.
The 34-year-old endeared himself to Albion fans further with a hat-trick in the humiliating 5-1 win over local rivals Wolves in February 2012.
But his relationship with the supporters quickly soured the following season when he handed in a transfer request following reported interest from Queens Park Rangers.
The saga was not wholly dissimilar to the current Saido Berhaino farce.
But Odemwingie went one step further to force through a move by actually driving to Loftus Road on transfer deadline day.
Sadly for Odemwingie, he was unaware West Brom had not given the London club permission to speak to him and he was quite literally left out in the cold, unable to enter the stadium.
On his return to the West Midlands, Odemwingie was sent home from training for a few days.
The embarrassing episode clearly had a negative effect with the striker failing to find the net in his final seven Albion appearances.
After scoring 30 goals in 67 games, Odemwingie finally sealed a transfer deadline day move away from the Hawthorns in September 2013.
But his £2.25 million move to Premier League new boys Cardiff City proved ill-fated and was over little more than four months, 17 games and two goals later.
Stoke boss Mark Hughes swapped Kenwyne Jones for Odemwingie in January 2013, and the latter got off to a flyer scoring four in his first nine matches.
He also played in Stoke’s 2-1 win at The Hawthorns in May 2014, in his first and only return to Albion.
But his time at the Britannia has largely been hampered by injury with Odemwingie unable to score in just eight appearances last season.
James Morrison, Craig Dawson, Callum McManaman and Salomon Rondon are likely to line-up at Stoke after they were left out of West Brom’s starting 11 for the League Cup win over Port Vale on Tuesday night.
Stoke rested Xherdan Shaqiri and Jack Butland among others in the midweek penalty shoot-out win over Luton Town, but both are likely to face Albion.
Spanish creator Bojan Krkic is also in contention following his return from a lengthy lay-off.