Sunderland host Brighton in the Premier League this weekend.

Brighton and Hove Albion boss Fabian Hurzeler has admitted that he and his staff will make a late decision about Kaoru Mitoma’s availability ahead of their Premier League clash with Sunderland on Saturday afternoon.

The Japanese international picked up an ankle complaint during the first half of the Seagulls’ 1-0 defeat to Arsenal earlier this month, and was subsequently seen on crutches while wearing a protective boot.

Doubts had therefore been raised about the 28-year-old’s fitness heading into his side’s trip to Wearside this weekend, but in a pre-match press conference on Friday morning, his head coach claimed that, depending on how he responds to training later in the day, there is still a chance that he could feature in the North East.

Addressing the media, Hurzeler said: “We have to see how training is going today. He [Mitoma] is the only player where we have some concerns so we have to wait until the training finishes today and then we can make a decision about that. All the others will be fine.

“It's not as bad. The scan shows no injury and therefore it's just a question of pain and if he can handle it or not. That's what I mean. We have to wait and see how everything is going today.”

Mitoma had previously missed a notable chunk of the campaign with an ankle issue late last year, but Hurzeler was quick to insist that his current niggle is entirely unrelated. He added: “Honestly, it's no injury. We made a scan, everything is fine and therefore it's just a painful thing he suffered. Therefore, it's just to overcome this pain but it has nothing to do with his old injury.”

Elsewhere, Hurzeler confirmed that both Lewis Dunk and Solly March, who missed out on the recent loss to Arsenal, will be back in contention to play against Sunderland. He explained: “Yes, he [Dunk] will be an option. Solly March as well. Everyone is back. The only injury, concern or thing we have to deal with is, like I mentioned, Kaoru Mitoma.”

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What is Sunderland’s latest team news heading into Brighton clash?

For his part, Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris provided a detailed injury update of his own on Thursday, hinting that both Brian Brobbey and Dennis Cirkin could return to his matchday squad on Saturday.

He said: “Brian and Dennis have trained fully this week. They might be available. Nordi [Mukiele], Robin [Roefs], and Reinildo [Mandava] are in a good place but won’t be available for this fixture. Probably they will train next week, Rei 100%, so it’s more about the Newcastle game [on March 22nd] for them. They are progressing well.”

On Bertrand Traore, who is currently battling a knee injury, Le Bris added: “It’s going to be six to eight weeks minimum. We’ll try the conservative reaction then depending on the reaction we’ll see if we need something else.”

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