Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler will not take any risks with the fitness of “key player” Joao Pedro and is confident other members of his squad will chip in with goals.
Seagulls forward Pedro missed last weekend’s 0-0 draw at home to newly-promoted Ipswich and will be assessed ahead of Sunday’s visit of Nottingham Forest.
The 22-year-old, who sustained an injury on international duty with Brazil earlier this month, contributed 20 goals in all competitions last season and has already hit two in three games this term.
“He will train today with the team and then we have to see how it’s going: if he can train fully, if he can do all the movements,” head coach Hurzeler said of Pedro at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“Of course we won’t take any risks but he will be part of the training today.”
Pedro was the only Brighton player to reach double figures in front of goal last season after his £30million arrival from Watford.
Following the frustrating stalemate against the Tractor Boys, a much-changed Albion side had no issues finding the net during Wednesday evening’s 3-2 Carabao Cup win over Wolves.
Carlos Baleba and Ferdi Kadioglu claimed maiden goals for the club, either side of Simon Adingra’s third strike this campaign.
“It would be easy as a coach to say we miss Joao Pedro and if Joao Pedro would have played against Ipswich we would have won but it’s not my way of working or my philosophy,” said Hurzeler.
“It’s very important that not only we know but also the opponent knows that we have several players with the ability to score, with the ability to make the difference.
“Every team in the Premier League has this key player, this player who makes a difference, and in our way it’s Joao Pedro.
“But we also have other great players who can make the difference.
“We have (Kaoru) Mitoma, he can make the difference, Simon can make the difference, (Yankuba) Minteh can make the difference, Danny Welbeck already scored, we have now Georginio Rutter, we have Evan Ferguson, we have young players in the midfield like Carlos and Yasin (Ayari), they all have the ability to score.
“We have to make them score, we have to help that they increase their percentage of making assists, of making goals, and that’s our job to develop them and to make a team who is not only fixed on one player.”