Seagulls face Canaries in the battle of the birds

Brighton and Hove Albion will try and prolong their recent upturn in results when they travel to Carrow Road tomorrow (Saturday).

The Seagulls head to East Anglia on the back of a win and a draw from their last two fixtures before the international break.

In comparison, Norwich City have won just once in their last eight games and have seen their encouraging early-season form dip drastically. They have lost their last two games, against Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest, conceding six goals and scoring just once in the process.

Both sides, then, will be intent on taking maximum points as the Championship season heads towards the busy festive season.

The Canaries, who this week added the hugely-experienced Mike Phelan to their coaching staff, have found it difficult to turn draws into wins in front of their home fans of late, with four draws from their last half dozen homes games.

And they are likely to be without the creative influence of Wes Hoolahan, who is struggling with injury.

They do, nevertheless, still boast a relative embarrassment of riches in attacking positions. Cameron Jerome, Gary Hooper and Lewis Grabban are among the division's most-dangerous hitmen, while 20-year-old wideman Nathan Redmond is a potent and impressive talent.

The Albion, then, could have done without losing Lewis Dunk, their stand-out performer this season, to suspension. Aaron Hughes and on-loan Greg Halford will compete to partner Gordon Greer at the heart of the Seagulls defence, while Bruno could start at right-back in place of Inigo Calderon after overcoming a recent injury.

Calderon has performed well in recent weeks but Sami Hyypiä could opt for Bruno if he feels Calderon would benefit from a further rest.

Another Seagulls star who may drop to the bench for a well-earned rest is Jake Forster-Caskey. The midfielder has clocked up 1,268 minutes of league football so far this season - with only Greer and Dunk playing more. And a planned rest with England Under-21s this week lasted just 32 minutes, with Forster-Caskey introduced against France because of an injury to Nathaniel Chalobah.

With Danny Holla, Gary Gardner and Rohan Ince available to operate in the two deeper midfield slots, Hyypiä may decide to restrict Forster-Caskey to the bench in an effort to keep his trusted-midfield schemer fresh.

In goal Hyypiä did look like having a straight choice between Ali Al-Habsi, who was expected to fly home from the Gulf Cup where he has been in impressive form for Oman, and Christian Walton, who has also been on international duty this week, collecting his fifth England Under-20 cap against Portugal.

The club have, however, been boosted by the return of David Stockdale who is now expected to start tomorrow, while Al-Habsi has been told he is free to continue playing for Oman.

Solly March has also resumed full training for the Seagulls after a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Brighton though will have to do without Elliott Bennett, who is barred from playing under the terms of his loan agreement from Norwich. That, however, means Hyypiä is free to select all the squad's other loan players.

LIKELY LINE-UP: Stockdale, Bruno, Greer, Hughes, Bennett, Holla, Ince, Gardner, Teixeira, Lua Lua, Baldock.

LIKELY SUBS: Walton, Halford, Calderon, Forster-Caskey, McCourt, Colunga, Mackail-Smith.