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TEAM NEWS
Brighton have received a big setback before their important FA Cup match at Molineux, with key winger Kaoru Mitoma expected to sit out the remainder of the season due to a back injury.
In addition to Mitoma’s absence, Brighton also have other injury concerns ahead of the Wolves game, as they compete in the Premier League, Europa League, and FA Cup simultaneously. De Zerbi confirmed that strikers Evan Ferguson and Joao Pedro will be unavailable. Furthermore, Joal Veltman and Danny Welbeck are major doubts for the match and will undergo late fitness assessments.
Gary O”Neil has said Matheus Cunha is progressing well and is back on the grass but will be unavailable in the short term. There are no new injury concerns but players will be assessed with such a short turnaround times from the last match against Sheffield United and the next fixture against Newcastle.
GARY O'NEIL
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
Reacting to Sunday’s victory against Sheffield United he described the first half as “very good” but in the second half “a lot of the lads had slight off spells with the ball, some strange decisions, and then it all got nervy”.
On positives from Sunday, he said fans and players “dug in” for the win, adding: “I did like the grit, the determination and the refusal to let something slip, we knew how big the result was going to be for us and Premier League games aren’t easy to win.”
On Brighton, he described the coaching as “excellent” and that they were “unbelievably aggressive without the ball”, referencing how he’s watched their centre-backs pressing opposition goalkeepers.
O’Neil said there are no fresh injury concerns. The only player missing is Matheus Cunha and he is “doing well” and “back on the grass”.
On the short turnaround between matches he said the game “would’ve been much better if it was on its own on a weekend, where you have the full weeks prep”, stressing his squad will be tested in next two games with both Brighton and Saturday’s opponents Newcastle having an extra day of recovery.
Speaking about point deductions, O’Neil said: “It’s a tricky situation for everybody, you don’t actually know where you are in the league at any point, because there are so many possibilities.”
He stressed he hopes the table doesn’t change due to deductions late in the season as it could completely change how teams approach games.
On Everton’s point deduction being reduced: “I’m pleased for Everton. Like I said when they got their 10-point deduction, you don’t want to see teams losing points, you want the league to be done fairly and evenly and everybody be playing off zero.”
KEY STATS & FACTS
- This is just the second FA Cup meeting between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brighton, with Wolves winning a third round tie 3-2 in 1978-79 previously.
- Brighton have tasted victory in their last three away games against Wolves in all competitions, having won just one of their previous 11 visits to Molineux before this (D7 L3).
- Wolves are looking to reach the FA Cup quarter-final for the third time this century, previously doing so in 2002-03 and 2018-19.
- Since promotion to the Premier League in 2017, Brighton are looking to reach the FA Cup quarter-final for the fourth time (2017-18, 2018-19 and 2022-23). They’d only done so twice in their history before this (1982-83 and 1985-86).
- Matheus Cunha scored in Wolves’ third round replay win against Brentford, and in the fourth round against West Brom. The last player to score in the first three available rounds to Wolves in a single FA Cup campaign was George Ndah in 2002-03.
- Brighton’s João Pedro has scored six goals in his last three FA Cup games. He’s the joint-top scorer in this season’s competition from the first round onwards with five goals, netting a hat-trick in the last round against Sheffield United.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Andrew Madley Assistant referees: Nick Hopton & Nick Greenhalgh Fourth official: Sam Barrett VAR: Anthony Taylor Support VAR: John Brooks Assistant VAR: Simon Bennett
MATCH INFO
The match kicks off on Wednesday 28th February at 7.45pm at Molineux Stadium. The game can be seen live on BBC iPlayer in the UK.