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West Brom head coach Tony Pulis says Saido Berahino and Brown Ideye have to be protected ‘from themselves’.

The duo were pulled out of international duty with England Under-21s and Nigeria at the weekend.

Ideye was unable to figure against Manchester City because of a knee injury.

Berahino has been playing with pain-killing injections to overcome an ankle problem.

“The two lads have done brilliantly for us in recent weeks,” said Pulis.

“I cannot praise them highly enough.

“Everyone knows we are short on numbers up front and we have had to press the two of them into battle. It has not been ideal but they have taken it on without complaint. Their attitude has been first class.

“The last thing we wanted to do was stop them playing for their countries. They both desperately wanted to. Brown has worked really hard to get back into the Nigeria selection and Saido loves playing for England.

“But sometimes you have to protect the lads from themselves. They simply were not fit enough to take on the prospect of two more games.

“They need to recover from their injuries. I felt I had to act in the best interests of West Bromwich Albion and the players themselves.”