Albion boss Chris Hughton has played down the simultaneous loss of Dale Stephens and Beram Kayal from his central midfield for Saturday's trip to Sheffield Wednesday.

Stephens is suspended after he was sent-off at Ipswich on Tuesday and Kayal has ankle trouble.

It will be only the second time in 75 Championship matches since Kayal made his debut for the Seagulls in February 2015 that the pair have been ruled out of the same league game.

On the previous occasion, at home to Preston a year ago, Albion were held to a 0-0 draw.

Ollie Norwood and Steve Sidwell will deputise at Hillsborough.

Hughton told The Argus: "They are two very good players, hence when you have Dale and Beram that were our mainstays last season and you make decisions to bring in Sidwell and Norwood, at this moment is the reason why.

"You want competition in that area. It gives me options to change things.

"Ollie will leave us after the weekend to be involved at international level (Northern Ireland) and Steve Sidwell's been there and done it."

Left-back Gaetan Bong returns from a ban to a defence seeking a fifth shut-out in succession in Yorkshire.

Meanwhile, Solly March remains on course to feature for the under-23s either on Saturday or next Tuesday following a shin-related setback to his recovery from ten nine months out with cruciate knee ligament damage.

Irish midfielder Richie Towell is back running after knee trouble which has ruled him out of contention so far this season.