London (AFP) – West Bromwich Albion manager Slaven Bilic has revealed Egypt defender Ahmed Hegazi was dropped from the Championship leaders’ 1-1 draw against Brentford on Saturday because of a training ground incident.

Hegazi, 28, has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad and Bilic decided to leave him out following the unspecified problem on Friday.

“Something happened yesterday on the training ground. It was nothing major that I’m going to discuss or share with the media,” Bilic said.

“It was little things but big enough for him not to be in the squad today.”

Hegazi has made just three appearances for West Brom this season after an ankle injury and is understood to be frustrated at his lack of action.

With Hegazi sidelined, West Brom fell behind at the Hawthorns when Henrik Dalsgaard gave Brentford a shock lead two minutes before the break

Albion’s Darnell Furlong equalised in first-half stoppage-time, but substitute Charlie Austin’s late effort was ruled out for offside.

Bilic’s side stretched their unbeaten run to 13 matches — the current longest run in the division — as they moved three points clear of second placed Leeds, who were beaten 2-1 at promotion rivals Fulham.

At Craven Cottage, Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic netted his 17th league goal of the season from the penalty spot in the seventh minute.

Patrick Bamford levelled with his sixth in eight games, but Jose Onomah slammed home from a corner in the 69th minute to end Leeds’ 11-match unbeaten streak and move Fulham nine points behind in third place.

“If you analyse the statistics, it is clear that Fulham are the best team in the Championship. They play well on the counter-attack, but today they didn’t damage us or create chances,” Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa said.

“They scored from a corner and from a penalty. We had seven or eight chances to win the match.

“The only thing that’s a shame is after we scored we conceded possession in our half more. We allowed them to do it.”

Preston dropped to fourth place after a goalless draw at Cardiff, while Huddersfield boosted their survival hopes with a 2-1 victory over play-off chasing Nottingham Forest.

Andre Ayew’s 10th goal of the campaign took Swansea up to sixth with a 1-0 win at Luton, while Hull beat Birmingham 3-0 at the KCOM Stadium 

Patrick Schmidt’s late header lifted Barnsley to within one point of safety with a 2-1 win at Millwall.

Barnsley were pegged back in the 85th minute when Aiden O’Brien cancelled out Conor Chaplin’s opener, but Schmidt won it in the fourth minute of stoppage-time.

Naby Sarr struck in stoppage-time to give Charlton a 2-2 draw in their London derby at QPR.

Reading moved seven points clear of the relegation zone after beating 10-man Derby 3-0 at the Madejski Stadium.