Brighton will likely be without key defender Joel Veltman for this Sunday’s FA Cup fifth-round clash at Newcastle United.
The experienced Dutch full-back has foot and ankle issues and missed Albion’s last two Premier League victories against Southampton and Bournemouth.
The FA Cup clash at James’ Park is also set to arrive too soon for the former Ajax man who has made 19 Premier League appearances this term.
Veltman, 33, also played in the previous rounds of the FA Cup as the Seagulls beat Norwich City 4-0 in the third round and then despatched Chelsea 2-1 at the Amex Stadium in the previous round.
“It’s more the bone from the foot,” said Albion head coach Fabian Hurzeler before Tuesday night’s 2-1 victory against Bournemouth.
“It’s not a bad, bad one, but it’s not a good, good one! It’s in-between. We have to see, week to week. He is very doubtful and also for the game against Newcastle.
“It’s like I said, we were talking about the balance of how intense you want to train and risking injury from a bad injury.
“With Joel, we took him out at the right moment from training, otherwise we would risk a bad, bad injury. At the moment it’s an okay injury that wouldn’t take that long, so hopefully he will be back in some weeks.”
Skipper Lewis Dunk is also expected to miss out once more as the center-back recovers from a rib injury sustained in round four against Chelsea. Dunk has missed the last three Premier League fixtures against Chelsea, Southampton and Bournemouth.
Danny Welbeck returned from his recent minor injury last night and scored the winner against the Cherries. It was his first goal since October and the former Manchester United and Arsenal man is now in contention to face Newcastle.
“I’m always wanting to score goals,” said Welbeck, who scored the winner for Brighton when they beat Newcastle 1-0 at St James’ Park in the Premier League last October.
“I’ve had a couple of injuries in between so it’s not been straight through. It’s nice to get on the scoresheet but more importantly, it was better to get the three points.”
The team comes before everything and that’s important for us at Brighton and within our group.”
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