Tommy Watson 'desperate' to face Sunderland as Brighton boss issues Danny Welbeck injury update
Sunderland face Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League this weekend
Brighton and Hove Albion boss Fabian Hurzeler has claimed that Tommy Watson is “desperate” to feature against Sunderland this weekend.
The promising winger etched his name into Black Cats folklore by scoring the winning goal in May’s Championship play-off final at Wembley. That stoppage time strike not only secured Sunderland’s long-awaited promotion back to the Premier League, but also marked Watson’s final action for his boyhood club, with the teenager having already agreed to join Brighton during the summer transfer window.
Since arriving on the south coast, however, he has found first team opportunities relatively hard to come by. At the time of writing, Watson has registered just 176 minutes of senior action across five outings, with just two substitute cameos - totalling 40 minutes - to his name in the Premier League.
But despite struggling for consistent game time, Watson himself has insisted that he made the right choice by leaving Sunderland for the Seagulls. Speaking after a defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford back in October, he said: “I think I would be getting minutes at Sunderland but personally I think the level of the group is higher here.
“I think this system suits my game more and I think this environment is set up for me to go and kick on and prove myself. I think it’s a dynamic system. I love the intensity to go and press high up the pitch.”
What has Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler said about Tommy Watson ahead of Sunderland reunion?
And while Watson may be content with biding his time at the Amex Stadium, his head coach has admitted that he is eager to play some part against his former club this weekend.
In a press conference on Friday, Hurzeler said: “We can all feel that he's desperate to play. He trained well this week, so he's definitely an option for tomorrow. His start was not easy and you can see that in the amount of his game time It has not been easy to get into rhythm for him because he always has small issues regarding his body.
“But hopefully now he's getting stronger, physically his body handles the adaptation better, then we see his potential. We see his potential every week in training. We see his potential in some game minutes he had so far. But the main thing for us is really is his body able to adapt, how fast his body's able to adapt to get into his rhythm? And then I'm sure that he can help us.”
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What else did Fabian Hurzeler say ahead of Sunderland clash?
Elsewhere, Hurzeler also provided an update on ex-Sunderland loanee Danny Welbeck, who remains a doubt due to an ongoing back injury. The 35-year-old has scored seven goals in 16 top flight outings this term, but was limited to just an eight-minute cameo against Liverpool last time out, and could miss out on another start against the Black Cats this weekend.
Hurzeler explained: “It is still restricted but Danny is doing sometimes incredible things so let’s see if he is an option to start. But definitely the issue is not healed yet and he is still restricted during the training week.”
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