Carlos Baleba will face fight for Brighton place

Albion will have midfield options - even when Carlos Baleba heads to AFCON <i>(Image: Newsquest and PA)</i>
Albion will have midfield options - even when Carlos Baleba heads to AFCON (Image: Newsquest and PA)
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Albion are ready for a battle royal for a midfield place.

Jack Hinshelwood returns to the matchday squad at home to Brentford today.

James Milner will be back at about the time Carlos Baleba heads to AFCON with Cameroon.

And Fabian Hurzeler has spoken about restoring Mats Wieffer to midfield, as he did for the closing stages of the recent draw at Crystal Palace.

Yasin Ayari has been given the all-clear after a minor ankle issue while away with Sweden, which appears to indicate he will again partner Baleba in the engine room from kick-off.

But Baleba will now come under more pressure for this place even before he goes to the Morocco tournament.

Diego Gomez will also be in the midfield hunt once widemen Kaoru Mitoma and Tommy Watson return.

Albion boss Fabian Hurzeler said: “When you have a high availability, you have more options.

“So I think when Kaoru is fit, when Tommy Watson is fit - by the way, Tommy will be back next week - then we have, on the left side, more options.

“Then Diego Gomez can rotate back into the middle.

“Then Jack Hinshelwood is back in the squad, James Millner will be back as well.

“[Joel] Veltman will be back. Maxim De Cuyper is getting more and more into his shape, that means we have more options on the left and right, full-back.

“There might be an option that Mats Wieffer rotates back in the centre.

“We have now more availability, or we should have more availability, and then you get more competition, and then you have also more options.

“And then it's about performing individually. When you're not going to the limit, then we have another option to be ready to play.

“We have still a lot of options, and I'm quite sure that we see also other options, and I'm quite convinced that we have enough options to cover when Carlos will go to Africa."

Hinshelwood and Milner both started in central midfield when they were last both available, away to Bournemouth.

Hurzeler appears to prefer Hinshelwood in that role, despite his appearances as an inverted full-back for England under-21s.

 

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