Dunk doubtful with another injury: Brighton v Chelsea team news
Brighton take on Chelsea for the second time in six days with the main Albion team news centring around injury to Lewis Dunk… again.
The Albion captain has already spent a couple of spells on the sidelines this season thanks to a calf and groin injuries.
Dunk missed five weeks of action through November with the former. His return coincided with an eight game winless streak. Brighton snapped out of that sequence when he was again ruled out in early January with the latter.
The latest issue is with Dunk’s ribs. It occurred during the first half of Brighton 2-1 Chelsea in the FA Cup last weekend.
Dunk initially tried to play through the injury before being replaced at half time by Adam Webster. When asked about Dunk after the game, Fabian Hurzeler said: “There will be a scan and then I can say more.”
Not much more, though. Delivering the team news ahead of Brighton against Chelsea round two, Hurzeler said of the injury to Dunk: “We have to see if he can train today, but I’m not sure if he will be ready for the game tomorrow.”
As a Chelsea fan who named his dog Drogba, missing the game against the Blues will be a particular blow to Dunk.
If Dunk is not fit enough as seems likely, Webster will partner Jan Paul van Hecke. Webster did a fine job off the bench against Chelsea last week, helping the Albion keep a second half clean sheet.
It will, however, be a much tougher task facing Brighton on Valentine’s Day. Enzo Maresca rested six players for the FA Cup game.
Chelsea will return to full strength back in the bread and butter of Premier League football. Not to mention having added motivation after being humbled by Brighton last Saturday.
Aside from injury to Dunk, the other big piece of Brighton team news before the visit of Chelsea centre around Pervis Estupinan.
The left back has not been seen since the 3-1 win at Manchester United four weeks ago. Hurzeler said Estupinan was still in rehab and not an option for this weekend.
Tariq Lamptey is therefore guaranteed to start against his former club. The emergency left back was named ITV Man of the Match in the FA Cup game.
An impressive way to bounce back from an absolute shocker when Brighton were hammered 7-0 at Nottingham Forest.
Mats Wieffer has stepped up his recovery from injury. Having taken part in full training this week, the midfielder could be an option for the bench.
Solly March is also back in training after a muscle problem. March through is unlikely to make the squad. The Albion continue to rightly treat him with kid gloves after only just coming back from 14 months out with that career-threatening ACL.
Hurzeler also spoke about how impressed he has been with Diego Gomez. The Paraguayan international midfielder made his home debut last weekend. There were shades of Alexis Mac Allister in the way he ran the midfield after coming off the bench.
In terms of Chelsea team news, there have been reports that Nicolas Jackson will miss the next six weeks with a hamstring injury.
Jackson is the type of striker who has caused the Brighton defence issues in the past. His absence would be a big boost as the Albion look to secure a first home Premier League win since November 9th.
All Brighton need to worry about now is the small matter of Cole Palmer. He became the first ever player to score four times in the first half of a top flight game since Sky Sports invented football in 1992 when Brighton were well beaten in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge earlier in the campaign.
