Wanderers will be without midfield duo Paul Warhurst and Ricardo Gardner for the next two games.

The pair suffered hamstring injuries in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Blackburn and will be out for at least two weeks.

It means they will miss Monday night's Reebok clash with Leeds and the visit to West Ham United, leaving a gaping hole in the Wanderers engine room.

Wanderers have suffered terribly with midfield casualties this season.

Warhurst returned from a ten-game absence with a groin injury only three games ago, Gareth Farrelly has been out for four games, Bulent Akin is suspended and Stig Tofting is playing on with a broken foot.

That is further aggravated by the fact that Kevin Nolan, who looked to be back to his impressive old self when playing the last 46 minutes of Saturday's game against Blackburn, will have to sit out the Leeds game because of a one-match suspension after accumulating five bookings.

It gives manager Sam Allardyce a big headache ahead of Monday's Sky televised game.

He switched his tactics from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3 for Blackburn with Gardner playing as a forward alongside Youri Djorkaeff and Henrik Pedersen.

Gardner's injury will almost certainly force another re-think in formation with filling the midfield berths the biggest problem.

Jay Jay Okocha and Per Frandsen are certain to play in the middle with Tofting likely to come in. If Farrelly recovers in time he could also find himself rushed back into the side or on the bench at least.