Albion's out-of-favour striker Chris O’Grady has been praised by manager Sami Hyypia for his professionalism.

O’Grady has started only two games in the Championship since the Seagulls bought him from Barnsley for £500,000 in July and has been left out of the squad for the last three matches.

Hyypia said: “I guess when somebody is not playing or not in the squad it’s not a nice situation but we are professionals and he has behaved like a professional, as I would expect.

“At the moment he is just behind the others and I can’t have only attacking players on the bench. I like to have every area of the pitch covered for when something happens.

“If we have only attacking players on the bench I don’t think Chris O’Grady can play left-back, so that’s the reason.

“They all have to accept the decisions. That’s the most difficult part of this job, to leave players out. I have experienced that myself.

"For me it came at a later stage of my career, so I was maybe more okay with the situation. I knew what to do, kept training well and got myself ready for taking my chance when it came. That's what I expect all of our players to do as well."

O'Grady's former Barnsley team-mate Paddy McCourt, who played 90 minutes for the development team on Monday, will be in Hyypia's plans once fully fit.

Hyypia told The Argus: "He understands that he needs to get to top fitness, then we can use him more. He is a quality player on the ball.

"He can go past people, he can dribble, see passes, but I think he knows himself as well which areas he needs to improve to have a real go in the starting line-up and playing games regularly.

"So I hope he is working on these things and we try to be on top of him in training. Hopefully at some stage we will have a 100 per cent and motivated Paddy McCourt on the pitch."