Albion are sweating on an injury to Izzy Brown.

The on-loan Chelsea youngster limped out of the 2-0 defeat by Manchester City midway through the first half with a hamstring injury.

Versatile attacking midfielder Brown has impressed since signing and boss Chris Hughton says losing him so early was a blow.

Hughton told The Argus: “It was because he has been playing well and, as soon as he comes off, at this stage of the season you are also thinking you don’t want somebody to be out for a period of time.

“And when you make a substitution that early it means there isn’t one you can make later on.

“At this moment I don’t know. I know it’s in the hamstring area. I’m hoping it’s fatigue.”

Hughton was satisfied with the performance against City and expects Albion to be more of a threat in other matches at the Amex.

He said: “We won’t be against that type of opposition and there will be games, particularly here, that we will want more and expect more from our team, expect to give ourselves more opportunities to score goals.

“It was always going to be difficult unless you open up and I knew the chances would be minimal, but we managed a few. On another day, certainly against lesser opposition, you hope you’re successful.”

Albion’s under-23s open their league campaign at Norwich tonight (7pm).