Jason Steele has 11 more days in which to prepare for his long-awaited Premier League debut.

But the man entrusted to fill the void left by Robert Sanchez is not short of experience.

He has had his moments in cup competitions with the Seagulls, both seniors and with the under-21s.

The question was asked of Graham Potter somewhat hesitantly soon after Sanchez had been sent-off against Newcastle.

Does Jason Steele come in? Where is Kjell Scherpen in terms of being ready for the Premier League?

It would have been very easy for Potter to be non-committal and say he had plenty of time in which to make a decision.

Instead, he had no problem in confirming there and then that Steele would take over with Scherpen coming into the matchday squad.

At 31 and with 301 senior appearances, Steele has yet to play in the Premier League.

With all three changes having been made – and still only three allowed - he was not able to get on for his first ever Prem minutes as sub on Saturday.

But there is plenty of time for him to get his head around that idea now.

The last save he made in league football was from a current Prem star in Diogo Jota and secured a clean sheet.

That was right at the end of the 2017-18 season in the Championship, when already-relegated Sunderland enjoyed a 3-0 end-of-term stroll against disinterested, and already-promoted, Wolves at the Stadium of Light.

He has played 259 games in the Championship as well as 13 in League Two on loan to Northampton but his Premier League history has been on the sidelines.

For two seasons at Middlesbrough and now three-and-a-third with Albion, where he was behind regular sub David Button in the pecking order for a while.

He has made eight senior cup appearances for the Seagulls and played four times for the 21s in the EFL Trophy.

There has been some misfortune along the way.

Having done well against Bournemouth in the third round of the FA Cup in his first season, he then suffered a broken wrist in training.

That ruled him out of a fourth round tie, plus replay, with West Brom and the fifth round win over Derby.

Maty Ryan, who had been away at the Asia Cup when Steele got a taste of the action, was restored to the side in the last eight.

Ryan’s penalty save helped the Seagulls come through at Millwall.

Steele did not do badly in a shoot out himself at Newport last season.

True, it took his own error at the end of the tie plus the failings of his colleagues from the spot to make those feats possible.

But FOUR saves saw Albion through to the fourth round.

He was then unwell and could not play at home to Blackpool.

Steele’s other six appearances for the Seagulls have come in the Carabao Cup, three of them this term.

He was an unused sub when Potter rang the changes for the tie against Villa two years ago.

This will not be his first league game at Villa Park.

He was in the Blackburn side beaten 2-1 by Steve Bruce’s mid-table Championship outfit in 2016-17 when Jonathan Kodjia netted twice in front of 30,000. One of his best Albion performances, however, came before a crowd some way short of that.

Early in his Albion career, he was asked to keep goal behind an under-21s side at Luton in the EFL Trophy.

Albion were battered that night but Steele came up with save after save to keep arrears down to 2-0.

Aaron Connolly then pulled a goal back to set up an unexpectedly tense finale.

He played in three Trophy games in 2019-20, keeping clean sheets in all of them.

Potter has spoken glowingly of Steele as a professional and as a good team player when in the No.2 role.

That was why he remained on the bench about a year ago when Sanchez went from third choice to first and Ryan moved in the opposite direction.

Former Albion keeper and coach John Keeley has spoken highly of him.

When the two worked at Blacburn Rovers, Keeley said: “I am absolutely chuffed for him because he’s a really dedicated kid.

“He comes in every day, puts a proper shift in, does all the training properly, works at a good pace, wants to learn, and is the last out of the training.

“Everything he does, he does for purpose, and if you get that, it’s great to have a player like that around.”

The bits we have seen of Steele with Albion suggest confidence will not be an issue. Nor should be his distribution.

He can ping a pass 60 yards in Sanchez style and is always looking for the quick outlet.

That commanding presence on high balls might see a bit of a difference to when Sanchez is around.

But communication and understanding with his defence should be fine.

As Potter pointed out, he works with Albion’s defenders every day.

And he goes back even further than that with Shane Duffy, a former team-mate at Ewood Park.

You never quite know when your chance is going to come.

BRIGHTON GOALKEEPER ROBERT SANCHEZ GETS DOWN TO WORK WITH SPAIN - PICTURES

The lack of available substitutions on Saturday meant Steele did not have to spring into action.

He has had time to prepare.

He has been preparing for this since early days at Boro 14 years ago.