Fabian Hurzeler has altered his usual personnel as Albion search for their first win of their Premier League campaign.
Brighton face Manchester City at home today (Sunday, August 31) in a Premier League clash.
Coming into their third league game, The Seagulls find themselves in the relegation zone with one point.
A shock draw against Fulham and a 2-0 defeat against Everton has raised some alarm bells early on.
Yasin Ayari has been benched for Albion's home game against Manchester City. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)placeholder image
Yasin Ayari has been benched for Albion's home game against Manchester City. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Brighton now face Pep Guardiola’s side at the Amex, looking to bounce back after a poor start.
For Albion’s line-up against Man City, regular starter Yasin Ayari has been benched.
Before their away fixture against Everton, but Hurzeler wants more from the 21-year-old.
Brighton brought in the Swedish midfielder from AIK back in January 2023 for around £3.5 million.
After signing, he spent the 2023/24 season out on loan in the Championship with Coventry City and then Blackburn Rovers.
But in the 2024/25 campaign, things started to click well for him at Brighton under Fabian Hurzeler.
Ayari featured 34 times in the Premier League last season, scoring twice and setting up one more.
He also racked up 24 key passes last season, making him one of Albion’s most creative outlets.
This season, he impressed against Fulham, but the Brighton boss did hint that he wanted more from Ayari.
Fabian Hurzeler said: “I'm very happy with how Yasin has developed. I think we all saw it against Fulham, how mature he was playing. He was there in every moment.
"He was good in possession, good out of possession. It was a benchmark performance from him.
"And now it's about him being consistent, to show these kind of performance every week because that's what a top, top player does.
"The second thing is that I want him to take more responsibility on the pitch, that he grows also as a communicator. It's important for me that the players who are playing in the midfield that they're loud, that they're communicative, because they can control a lot of players.
"They can control the striker, the wingers, they connect with the centre-back. They need to be a loud speaker. They need to be a communicator in these areas.
"And I think it's very important that we have, although we are young in this kind of areas with Carlos (Baleba), with Yasin (Ayari), with Jack (Hinshelwood), with Diego (Gomez), and also Matt O’Riley, that we have players who can communicate with each other.
"I think that's the main thing where we all have to develop.”
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