Four Brighton players to miss Liverpool match

Brighton & Hove Albion will be without four players for Saturday's Premier League home match with Liverpool.
Brighton left-back Bernardo. Picture by PW Sporting PhotographyBrighton left-back Bernardo. Picture by PW Sporting Photography
Brighton left-back Bernardo. Picture by PW Sporting Photography

Left-back Bernardo will miss out with the hamstring injury he sustained at West Ham last week and winger Jose Izquierdo is still not fit to return after a knee injury.

Speaking about Bernardo at his pre-match press conference this afternoon, Albion boss Chris Hughton said: "He will miss the game. Apart from (Alireza) Jahanbakhsh and Izquierdo, there's no other fresh injuries."

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Asked about Izquierdo's knee injury, Hughton said: "It's not long term. It's the type of injury where we've got two ways of dealing with it - to push him a little bit harder at the moment to get him ready. We're delighted with his progress but the decision we've made is to take it a little bit slower to make sure we have no problems with it.

"He'll miss the weekend and we'll try to get him back as quick as possible."

Goalkeeper Mathew Ryan and winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh are both at the Asian Cup with Australia and Iran respectively.

Brighton have beaten Manchester United 3-2 and drawn 1-1 with Arsenal at home this season but asked if Liverpool was another step up, Hughton said: "Yes it is. You are looking at the best teams and at this moment, Liverpool are the best team in this league and their league position says that.

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"I thought we did really well up at Anfield this season but we can also remember the game here last season when they were outstanding on the break and we found it difficult to cope with them.

"It's a great challenge but anything we can get would show how we have come over this period of time."

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