Brighton manager Chris Hughton admits he is likely to rest Florin Andone and Jurgen Locadia for their opening Premier League encounter with Watford.
The Seagulls travel to Vicarage Road as they embark on their second successive season in the top-flight but they will have to do it without two of their recent arrivals.
Locadia joined Brighton in January for a £15million fee from PSV and he netted once in six outings during the second half of the term.
However, he was left out of the squad for Friday’s friendly win over Nantes due to an unspecified injury and the striker only returned to training this week.
Andone was snapped up this summer from Deportivo La Coruna and he also missed Friday’s outing with a groin issue.
Brighton’s attention is now firmly on their opening game with Watford at Vicarage Road on Saturday and Hughton insists the pair won’t be risked as he thinks ahead to games on the horizon against Manchester United and Liverpool.
Hughton said: “We cannot afford to. If you look at our schedule, we’ve got some big games coming up and you want them all available for the United game, the next one, Fulham and so on.”
“I have a role, but our medical department when it comes to players’ fitness and well-being have a bigger role. Sometimes I’m guided by what they say.”
“The original problem with Florin was the groin. He has now come through that one and we are just managing him. There’s no doubt he will be fine, we’ve just got to manage him the best way we can and Jurgen’s training.”
