Roberto De Zerbi will lead his Brighton side to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night when they take on Premier League rivals Chelsea in the third round of the Carabao Cup.
Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi says he is unsure whether Evan Ferguson will feature in tonight’s Carabao Cup clash with Chelsea.
The 18-year-old striker has scored four goals in six appearances for Albion this season, but is suffering from a knee injury which De Zerbi says is keeping him from reaching his best form.
The Italian told reporters on Tuesday that he was unsure whether to include Ferguson in the squad for the trip to Stamford Bridge or leave him at home with injured players Pascal Gross and James Milner.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, De Zerbi said:
“Pascal and James Milner will miss this match.
I haven’t decided about Evan yet, I want him to play at his best.
“He was not in the best physical condition on Sunday but he wanted to play, but we need the best physical condition from the players if we want to play every three days.
We need to change our formation and make the best decisions match by match.
De Zerbi has rotated his squad extensively in the early stages of the season, with Brighton now balancing regular European football with their already busy domestic schedule.
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This means there have been 22 changes to the starting line-up in Brighton’s last three games, with more changes on Wednesday for the Carabao Cup.
“The best team I can name [will play],” De Zerbi added.
“I have to look at the players who are at risk of injury, maybe the players who cannot play the full 90 minutes and the players who played the full 90 minutes against Bournemouth cannot play the full match tonight.
I have to think about another match on Saturday.
“To achieve this, we must play seriously and try our best.
We have to prepare as if it were a Premier League or Europa League match.
We have to get used to playing three games a week.
To achieve that, we have to work hard tonight like next Saturday at Aston Villa, then in the Europa League next Thursday and then against Liverpool in the Premier League.
“It’s too far to talk about winning the tournament, but we definitely want to play another match in this tournament.
The mentality of this team is that you can’t decide which games you have to play seriously and which games you don’t have to play.
When wearing a shirt, you have to push it.
I just know this.