Albion have been hit by a centre-half crisis in the Carabao Cup against Southampton.

Four of Chris Hughton's eight options are ruled out of tonight's second round clash at the Amex (7.45pm).

The injuries, combined with the high level of opposition, have restricted Hughton's scope to rest Shane Duffy and Leon Balogun for Saturday's return to Premier League action against Fulham at the Amex.

Lewis Dunk (ankle) and Bruno (hamstring) are both sidelined, while Dan Burn was loaned back immediately to Wigan after signing to recover from a broken foot bone.

Ben White would have stepped up from the under-23s but he was injured in their draw at Arsenal last week.

The Argus: Hughton (above) told The Argus: "He came off in the Arsenal game. The good news is he's fine. We were certainly worried initially.

"He is okay but I don't think he will make Tuesday. He would have played."

That leaves only the versatile Bernardo (below) and White's under-23s team-mate Ben Barclay as cover for Duffy and Balogun.

The Argus: Hughton will be reluctant to rely on such an inexperienced partnership against Premier League opposition.

The continuing absences of Jose Izquierdo (knee) and Florin Andone (groin) have further hampered Hughton's ability to change virtually the whole team, as has become customary in the Carabao Cup.

He will still make widespread alterations, including call-ups to the matchday squad for under-23s duo Viktor Gyokeres and Aaron Connolly.

Hughton said: "I don't think that (changes) will come as a surprise to anybody. We've done that last season and seasons before.

"No direspect to who we've played in the past, but to play our first game with this level of opposition obviously makes it an awful lot more difficult.

"But I shall use the squad and it gives those that haven't been playing an opportunity to get competition levels under their belt.

The Argus: "The problem we've got at this moment is that Bruno, Andone, Izquierdo (above) and Dunky are not available, so I've got some decisions to make. It leaves us a little bit lighter than we would like to be.

"We've probably got a couple of the 23s that were involved last year that are not available either (White and Max Sanders).

"Viktor will certainly be in the squad and Connolly will come into the reckoning. Whether one of them will start I'm not so sure.

"I've got a lot of thinking to do with who is available and not taking chances."