Mowbray frustrated as loans dry up in tight table

The close fight to stay in the Premier League is hampering West Bromwich Albion's chances of success in the loan market, according to Baggies manager Tony Mowbray.

Mowbray has been looking to the loan market to add to his squad after he signed strike duo Jay Simpson and Marc-Antoine Fortune on loan until the end of the season from Arsenal and Nancy respectively. Albion are at the bottom of the league but only five points adrift of a place in the top half of the table and Mowbray believes the sides above them are therefore reluctant to loan any of their players to the club.

"I think the tightness of the league is half an issue because at the moment we are competing with so many teams and it is only the top six or so clubs who will not feel we are any sort of threat," Mowbray said. "But if someone asked me to loan my players to them, and they were in a similar position, I would probably say no. In years gone by, there may have been a 10- or 12-point gap to, for example, a Man City or a Tottenham, and they might let you have a decent player to take some points off their rivals."

Mowbray, who welcomes Burnley to the Hawthorns in the FA Cup on Saturday, is adamant that he will not give up, however. "You are always only one conversation away," he added. "I could sit here and say 'yes, we are about to bring another one in' but until you pick up the phone you don't know. If the answer is no, then we keep going until the last day of the window."