Dunk Gross and Milner are all doubtful for tomorrow’s match against Bournemout
De Zerbi spoke as Brighton prepare to return to the Premier League after the club’s first European match.
The Seagulls were beaten 3-2 by AEK Athens at the Amex Stadium on Thursday night (September 21) as their Europa League campaign got off to a disappointing start.
Dunk has been ever-present this season, but his absence was noticeable as Brighton were beaten twice by set-pieces.
He suffered an unexplained muscle problem in last weekend’s win over Manchester United – and the England defender could be rested again for tomorrow’s away trip to Bournemouth (Sunday September 24 ).
Pascal Gross was captain of the team on Thursday, but the midfielder is also another who continues to be assessed over his muscle problem – as is James Milner.
However, De Zerbi is confident that the dressing room has enough quality to cover it.“We cannot take any risks (with Dunk), especially at this stage of the season. We must find another leader. Pascal Gross was a great leader for us, Danny (Welbeck) was a great leader.
“Adam Webster is a leader – one of the best in the dressing room. When he plays, he plays every game the right way.
“Then we have a lot of young players and they need to develop leadership – like Billy Gilmour and Mahmoud Dahoud, as well as Pervis Estupinan. He is young but has the experience to be another leader.
Evan Ferguson could return after missing Thursday’s match due to illness, while on-loan Barcelona striker Ansu Fati is hoping for another chance after making his first start against AEK.
De Zerbi made seven changes from the team that won at Old Trafford and knows that the extra workload this season must be shared – on and off the field.
He say:
“We are not used to playing three games (in a week). Last year, West Ham were in the Conference League (Europa) and Liverpool were in the Champions League, but we’re not used to that yet.
“We have to change and we have to adapt to everyone. We have to adapt, not only the players but also the people working inside (the club) – we don’t have many days off. We must organize not just one match but three matches. “We can’t just focus on tomorrow’s game – with attitude and attention – but we have work to do with the mindset that we’re playing every three days. It’s completely different“We wanted to get to the Europa League and now we have to continue (the season) without saying too mush
“Everyone can lose a match but after defeat we have to start again with the same passion and attitude because we will have to win many more matches.”
Brighton and Hove Albion v Bournemouth is scheduled to kick off at 2pm tomorrow at Falmer.