Albion keeper Tomasz Kuszczak’s chances of a third clean sheet in six matches at The Amex have been lifted by an injury to a fellow countryman.

Middlesbrough’s in-form Polish striker Lukas Jutkiewicz has been ruled out of Saturday’s clash against the Seagulls by a knee injury sustained in training.

Jutkiewicz scored for Coventry against Albion last season before a £1.3 million move to the North-East in January and has hit four goals in his last four outings for Boro.

Albion boss Gus Poyet, who has known Jutkiewicz since he was a teenager at Swindon, has revealed the 23-year-old featured on his list of potential signings.

Poyet said: “He was definitely on the list because he was one of the target men available at a reasonable price but we never made any approach.

“He was very young at Swindon but you could see already then that he was big, strong and difficult to mark. He’s got better and better with experience.

“He is a very important player for them (Boro) but I would prefer players not to be injured. It’s been the same for us. We didn’t have Macca (Craig Mackail-Smith) for a few games.”

Kuszczak is expected to be on the bench as cover for Przemyslaw Tyton for Poland in tonight’s World Cup qualifier against England in Warsaw.