Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler said he will take Joao Pedro’s injury week by week ahead of the trip to Chelsea.
Pedro sustained an ankle problem during the 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest following a lunging challenge from Morgan Gibbs-White. The Forest skipper received a second yellow for the foul on Pedro in what proved to be a fiery encounter.
Pedro played on in the final stages but was reportedly seen on crutches after the match and the Brazilian now looks set for another spell on the side-lines. Pedro, who has two goals to his name this term, had only just returned to action after picking up a “slight knock” while on international duty with Brazil.
“I’m not sure how long he will be out,” admitted Hurzeler. “I think that he is a good healer and I’m convinced that he will be back soon. But we can’t take any risk.
“We all know that he’s a player who can make the difference for us. We have several other options and we try to replace him as good as we can and give him a good rehab. I’m sure he won’t be out for so long.”
Of the tackle itself, Hurzeler added: “This tackle, of course, you can see it on television, but you have to see it on the pitch – how hard it was, the dynamic of it. The TV can’t give you the right dynamic of what happens in real life. It was a hard tackle for me. Joao had some problems after the game. He still has some problems. You have to go week by week with him. But I don’t think that he will be an option for the weekend.”
On the plus side, Yasin Ayari should be available again after illness ruled him out of the Forest match and Brajan Gruda, a £25m summer signing from Mainz, is available for the first time since his arrival.
“Brajan [Gruda] was out for five, six weeks,” Hurzeler said. “He will be back in the squad very soon, maybe already at the weekend. We will see how fast he gets reintegrated in the team, how fast he adapts to the intensity of the training. He might be an option for Saturday.”
James Milner (hamstring), Matt O’Riley (ankle) and Solly March (knee) are unavailable. “He [Milner] is training hard on the pitch,” said Hurzeler. “He is doing his rehab and I’m sure he will be back soon. [This weekend] is a little too early.”
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