Roberto De Zerbi was last night weighing up at least three big decisions as his plotted to take on Manchester United.

The Albion head coach was set to make a late call on Evan Ferguson after the striker suffered a blow to the knee in the win over Newcastle.

He also wants to get the timing of Ansu Fati’s Premier League debut right.

And he revealed he is keeping a close eye on players’ workloads, notably that of left-back Pervis Estupinan.

The Ecuador international appears an indispensable part of Albion’s gameplan.

But he has played hard-fought World Cup qualifiers in Buenos Aires and Quito over the last week.

To a suggestion there was a lack of cover at left-back, De Zerbi told The Argus: “No, we have substitutions. We have (James) Milner, Tariq Lamptey, Pascal Gross, Igor.

“Okay, Igor is a centre-back but he can play and he played in the past in that position.

“Maybe a different way, different style but he can if we need him in that position.

“I don’t remember how many games until Liverpool but we have to keep our eye on the Man United game - but we have to think of other games, no?

“First of all, we can’t lose any player and we have to manage in the best way.

“If Pervis travelled 12 hours and he played 180 minutes in the last week, we have to consider it.”

Any debut for Ansu seems most likely to come as a second-half substitute.

De Zerbi said: “First of all I want him to enjoy it, to show his quality.

“I told him, ‘I want to enjoy watching your ability’ and I don’t want to put any pressure on Ansu.”

Ferguson resumed training on Thursday and De Zerbi will guard against any risks ahead of the busy weeks ahead.