Jonny Evans set to regain West Brom captaincy for crunch Huddersfield clash
Jonny Evans is set to regain the West Brom captaincy despite being stripped of the armband following his part in the alleged theft of a taxi on a team-bonding trip to Barcelona.
Evans, along with Gareth Barry, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill are subect to a club investigation after returning to their hotel hours after head coach Alan Pardew's midnight curfew on last week's trip.
They were spoken to by Spanish police after allegedly taking the taxi after sending their driver into a McDonald's restaurant at 5.30am last Thursday.
Pardew stripped the Northern Irishman of the captaincy in the wake of the controversy, however, he still played both Evans and Barry in the starting line-up for Saturday's FA Cup defeat to Southampton.
Premier League basement club Baggies take on Huddersfield this weekend in a must-win game.
Albion are currently five points adrift at the bottom of the table and seven points from safety with just 11 games remaining.
The captain's armband was handed to Gareth McAuley last weekend but speaking after the FA Cup defeat, bopss Pardew hinted Evans would be given the chance to redeem himself.
“Obviously I was furious with what happened but at the same time I’ve got to give the players the chance to remedy the situation,” Pardew said. “Gareth Barry was okaytoday but I thought Jonny was very good actually in the circumstances.
“I felt I needed to make a little bit of a statement about the events, which is why I made Gareth (McAuley) captain.
In a joint statement issued by the club in the wake of the taxi-gate scandal, Evans, Barry, Livermore and Myhill said: "We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to our team-mates, the head coach, the club and especially the supporters for the events which have been the subject of widespread and negative publicity.
"We felt it important we identify ourselves as the players involved in an incident which occurred during the training camp in Spain this week out of respect for team-mates who otherwise could be implicated by association.
"We freely acknowledge and apologise for the break of curfew which we accept represented a breach of the standards of professionalism required of us as representatives of West Bromwich Albion FC.
"The club has informed us that it will now conduct its own inquiry into the incident and we will co-operate fully.
"In the meantime, we would like to assure our supporters that this incident does not reflect the determination and resolve we possess to do all we can to recover a difficult season. "
The Express & Star revealed yesterday how the taxi antics could cost the four an incredible half-a-million pounds.
They are likely to be fined a maximum two weeks' wages by the club - adding up to more than £480,000 in total.
