After his Brighton players returned from the international break to prepare for a crucial Premier League encounter at Manchester City, Roberto De Zerbi delivered an injury report.
‘Has begun to work with us, which is fantastic news,’ says Roberto De Zerbi ahead of Brighton’s trip to Manchester City.
On Friday afternoon (October 19), Albion’s head coach addressed the media at his pre-match press conference.
When asked about the most recent squad news, the Italian stated, “James Milner is available to play and start the game.” Pascal [Gross] is also present.
“Pervis Estupinan and Tariq Lamptey are both injured.”
“Jakub Moder has started to work with us, with the group and it’s great news for us.”
De Zerbi refused to say how long he would be without Lamptey. The versatile 23-year-old hasn’t played since his man-of-the-match performance in the Europa League against Marseille on October 5, when he suffered a hamstring injury.
The Moder update was much more upbeat.
Despite not having played since suffering a catastrophic knee injury in a 0-0 tie with Norwich eighteen months ago, the midfielder was named to Brighton’s 2023/2024 Premier League squad this week.
“When you are a player who loses one year to injury, before tactical or professional things, it’s a human thing,” he remarked.
“We want to help him recover from his injury.” I believe he has the potential to become a vital player for us, especially if we play a lot of games after January.”
Albion have not won at the Etihad since a 3-1 triumph over Bournemouth at the Amex on September 24. Since then, they’ve been eliminated from the Carabao Cup by Chelsea, humiliated 6-1 at Aston Villa, and come from behind twice in a week to secure 2-2 draws against Marseille and Liverpool.
Manchester City, too, is looking for a win to get their season back on track. Pep Guardiola’s team entered the international break after falling to title rivals Arsenal 1-0, their third defeat in four games in all competitions. It was also their second visit.
According to De Zerbi, this is ‘terrible news’ for Brighton.
“Big teams are not used to losing three games in the last four,” he went on to say. “We must think for ourselves and strive to improve the quality of our play.” We’re not playing nearly enough for our skill level. To compete for our goal, we must perform better than in the previous game.
“We played better than Villa Park, [Stade] Vélodrome, and Bournemouth against Liverpool.” We must, without a doubt, progress to a higher level. We will not be able to meet our historic goal without this.”
By his standards, Erling Haaland has also been on a goal drought. The Norwegian superstar hasn’t scored for City since September 23, when they defeated Nottingham Forest 2-0.
This is additional ‘bad news,’ according to De Zerbi.
“The biggest players and strikers are more hungry to score when they are not scoring as many goals,” he stated.
“It’s not just Haaland.” Doku is a fantastic player for them, as is Alvarez if we’re talking about attackers.”
De Zerbi stated that preparing for Manchester City is “very difficult,” adding, “It’s the toughest.”
“They can play in a variety of ways; they are accustomed to changing positions on the field; they can attack with five players, two wingers and two players behind the striker.”
“They played differently against Arsenal in their last game, and they are great at keeping the ball.” We’d like to keep the ball as well. It’s a tougher game when we find another team who wants to keep the ball more than us.”
