Brighton squad tested to its limit in trip to Forest
Nottingham is one of the best cities for an away day in England. Which is just as well, because Albion fans heading to watch Brighton take on Forest might need to do some serious drowning of sorrows given the Seagulls’ current injury list.
From Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem to the Canalhouse to Hooters, there is a pub or bar for every taste. There are worst cities to be visiting to watch Brighton missing an entire starting XI.
Pervis Estupinan. James Milner. Solly March. Adam Webster. Kaoru Mitoma. Julio Enciso. Danny Welbeck. All definitely ruled out of the trip to the City Ground.
Igor Julio and Evan Ferguson are 50-50 to be fit. Tariq Lamptey has not played a minute of competitive football in nearly eight weeks. Mahmoud Dahoud is suspended following his ludicrous and unnecessary red card in the 1-1 draw with Sheffield United.
Those 11 missing players would make a pretty decent team, the only question mark being who goes in goal? I would personally opt for Lamptey, just for a laugh.
That this injury crisis has reached its (hopefully) nadir for Forest away is not exactly great timing, what with the City Ground being a tough place to go.
Like Brighton under Chris Hughton in the 2017-18 season, the Tricky Trees stayed up in their first campaign back in the Premier League after winning promotion based solely on their home form.
A raucous crowd make for an intimidating atmosphere. The Albion struggled with it back in April, not helped of course by the fixture coming just three days after FA Cup semi final heartbreak on penalties against Manchester United.
Brighton lost 3-1 that Wednesday evening at the City Ground. They looked broken – physically and mentally – in the midst of a brutal finish of 15 games in the final eight weeks of the season. Qualifying for Europe looked a stretch too far for a squad which was at its limit.
Then of course, the Albion went and hammered Wolves 6-0 at the Amex 72 hours later. Sixth place was eventually achieved thanks to further victories over Manchester United and Arsenal and a draw with treble winners Manchester City.
The way in which Roberto De Zerbi was able to rejuvenate the squad after the double whammy of Wembley and Forest (not to mention the Everton at the Amex debacle) was a severely underrated aspect of Brighton making it into the the Europa League.
And it does at least give hope that a similar against-the-odds tale can unfurl against Forest. To reference that Wolves game again, De Zerbi named what at the time appeared to be a totally bizarre starting XI.
Many Seagulls supporters were left writing the game off before kick off, this website included. Not even Glow Up Graham Potter had been so drastic with a selection, and he often picked his team using a roulette wheel.
Mitoma, Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo were all rested. Fringe players like Billy Gilmour and Deniz Undav who found themselves thrown in responded to the opportunity by helping deliver the Albion’s biggest ever top flight win.
With 10 first choice players absent for Brighton at Forest, so opportunities come for others to stake their claim for more regular first team football.
Take Carlos Baleba for example. He has shown a serious amount of promise whilst at the same time reminding everyone just how young and raw he is.
A dominant midfield display against Liverpool followed by giving the ball away to Erling Haaland of all people as Manchester City scored their second past the Albion at the Etihad Stadium.
Forest would be a good day for Baleba to give a breakthrough performance, similar to the one Gilmour delivered against Wolves seven months ago.
Given the absence of Estupinan, March, Milner and the possibility of Igor and Lamptey not being fit enough to start, a development squad player could see themselves thrown in at left back.
Jack Hinshelwood impressed there during the United States Summer Series in pre-season. Imari Samuels is highly rated by the club.
Neither featured for the Under 21s in their game against Celtic at the Amex on Friday night, suggesting both are Nottingham bound. What a chance for one of them to announce themselves.
And there is Jakub Moder. De Zerbi said that he hoped to give Moder some game time from the bench in what would be the midfielder’s first appearance since April 2022 after an ACL injury which required two surgeries.
Under Potter, Moder was a talented player with an obvious area for improvement being his scoring record. He still awaits his first Premier League goal.
If Moder retains his ability after 19 months out and De Zerbi has the same impact on his goals output as he did on March and Adam Lallana, then the magic man from Poland will be like a new signing for the Albion. Goodness knows this threadbare squad could do with one.
So, there is at least some hope going to the City Ground. If Brighton were to return from Forest with three points, given the circumstances it would be one of the most impressive results of the De Zerbi.
The Albion are not immune to miracle moments when all hope is gone away against Forest either. Just ask a certain Leonardo Ulloa. What we would give for another 92nd minute winner in front of the away end…
