Brighton explain Matt O'Riley decision ahead of Nottingham Forest
Brighton and Hove Albion vs Nottingham Forest in the Premier League from the Amex Stadium - Sunday, 2pm
Brighton playmaker Matt O'Riley has had to be patient following his return from Marseille.
O'Riley, 25, spent the first half the campaign in the south of France but returned at the end of the last transfer window to finish the season with Brighton.
O'Riley featured in the closing stages of Albion's 1-0 home loss to Crystal Palace but then missed the matchday squads for the FA Cup exit at Liverpool, the loss at Aston Villa and the 2-0 win against Brentford.
Hurzeler insists the £25m man is training well ahead of Sunday's Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest, but he just has to keep pushing.
"Keep doing the things he's doing," said Hurzeler when asked why Matt O'Riley isn't playing.
"We have high availability, and it's sometimes decisions I have to do, hard decisions, without having any arguments.
"Matt O'Reilly is a role model regarding his work ethic, he's training hard, he's having good standards in training he's trying to improve every training session and sometimes I have to make hard decisions.
"Sometimes the coach doesn't have a lot of arguments to say, you are out because of that, that, that.
"He doesn't give me a lot of reasons to put him out of the squad, but in the end I have to make decisions and he has to keep pushing."
Hurzeler focused on Forest
Last week’s win at Brentford ease some of the pressure on Hurzeler and lifted them away from the relegation spots. The head coach now wants another top level performance against struggling Forest.
“I think every game is important, every win will be important.
“We know how the table looks, we know where we want to go. We know what is important for us.
“But in the end I always try to emphasise we have to focus on our performance.
“If we keep doing the performance we've shown in the last recent weeks, we are 100 per cent convinced that we get the results we deserve.
“ So it's really about focusing on the performances, focusing on the principles, focusing on bringing good energy on the pitch, focusing on getting the crowd involved, the crowd behind us.”