Brighton and Hove Albion head coach Roberto De Zerbi held his press conference ahead of the Seagulls Premier League clash with Bournemouth.
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00:00 Hello, my name is Frank Yerlit, I am a reporter for Sussex World Online. I'm currently walking
00:06 away from the Brighton-Hove-Albion first team training ground after Roberto de Zerbis just
00:11 spoken to the press ahead of Albion's next game in the Premier League against Bournemouth
00:15 on Sunday. The Seagulls returned to action just three days after they competed in their
00:20 first ever Europa League game against AAK Athens. It was a memorable night at the Amex
00:25 Stadium, a sellout of 32,000 fans and one that many Seagulls supporters will not forget
00:30 for a very long time. Despite this historic occasion, it was not the result that many
00:35 had hoped for or even expected as Brighton ran out 3-2 losers in the game to the Greek
00:40 champions, a late goal in the last 10 minutes to get the three points for the Greek side.
00:45 But despite the disappointing defeat, de Zerbis said after the game and stressed in today's
00:50 press conference that he was happy with the performance and could take many positives
00:54 from the game going ahead into their next game against Bournemouth in the league and
00:58 also in their further Europa League ties against Marseille and Ajax. So, Brighton returned to
01:04 action like I said three days after that game but would be without a number of key players
01:08 as we heard from de Zerbi today. Lewis Dunk and Evan Ferguson, two of Brighton's most
01:14 important players, were unavailable for the game against Athens. Lewis Dunk apparently
01:19 picked up a muscular injury after Brighton's last Premier League game which was a memorable
01:24 3-1 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford. He has yet to recover from that injury and
01:29 is unlikely to be risked for Sunday's game. Evan Ferguson was also unavailable for the
01:34 Athens game. This was due to an illness he likely picked up during the week and hadn't
01:39 recovered from despite hoping to play. He had arrived with the squad at the Amex Stadium
01:44 but had not recovered from that illness and was unavailable. De Zerbis says he is more
01:48 likely to play. Whether he will start or not is yet to be seen. It depends on how quickly
01:53 he recovers from the actual illness but he is more likely to feature within the Manchester
01:57 A squad for the Bournemouth game than the Brighton skipper, Dunk. Elsewhere, James Milner
02:03 who has been playing right back for much of the time, he's been at Brighton since arriving
02:07 in the summer, he came off with what seemed to be a muscular problem in the Athens game
02:12 early in the second half for Tariq Lamptey. De Zerbi said again today that he has to wait
02:18 and see whether the veteran utility man will be available for the game against Bournemouth.
02:24 Pascal Gross, despite playing the full 90 minutes in the Thursday's defeat, also had
02:29 an issue, a muscular issue, so maybe it's certainly a doubt for the game against Bournemouth
02:36 on Sunday. So around five players in total that will be missing for Brighton potentially,
02:42 alongside obviously the long-term injuries of Jeck and Murda and Julio and Cesar who
02:47 have got knee problems. So those two players plus the three that are of doubt means that
02:52 Brighton could be up five players for the trip, just the short trip down the south coast
02:56 to the Vitality Stadium. But despite the disappointing start to their European campaign, Brighton
03:01 go into Sunday's game domestically in very good form. They won four of their first five
03:06 league games, the last of those being that incredible dismantling of Ericton hardside
03:10 at Old Trafford last weekend. So they will hope to continue that great run. A number
03:16 of changes are expected of course, this is their first ever game after competing in a
03:20 European title, so that was their European debut on Thursday. So it is unlikely that
03:25 we will see many of the players that started that game against Athens, so a number of changes
03:29 are expected to be made both in the defensive unit and also in the attacking unit as well.
03:35 For their opponents, Bournemouth have been struggling this season. They haven't won a
03:38 game yet under their new boss Andrea Areola. They stayed up last season through the miraculous
03:43 work of Gary O'Neill. He left in the summer, the club spent more than Ā£110m on new players,
03:49 players like Tyle Adams, Sinisterra both from Leeds and also Alex Scott from Bristol City.
03:56 Those players are all expected to play on Sunday as Bournemouth chase their first victory.
04:00 They were impressive last time out in a 0-0 draw against Chelsea and we hope to see the
04:05 posters from that performance into the Arena's Albion to pick up the three points. You can
04:09 catch all the coverage of the press conference today, of the game on Sunday and also of the
04:15 game last night in which Brighton played their first ever Europa League tie. You can catch
04:19 all the coverage, reactions from the stands as well as from the press box as well on 6x6
04:23 World Online. Keep up to date on our social media pages as well. That's all from me here
04:28 in Falmer. Have a great weekend and enjoy the game on Sunday.