Crystal Palace vs Brighton confirmed team news: 5 ruled out and star man is '50-50'
Crystal Palace vs Brighton in the Premier League this Sunday at Selhurst Park - 2pm
Kaoru Mitoma has some serious competition for his spot on Brighton’s left flank.
Mitoma has missed the last five matches with an ankle issue but could be available to face Crystal Palace this Sunday at Selhurst Park.
The 28-year-old Japan international winger, who started the first six Premier League matches of the season, is though no longer sure of his place.
Diego Gomez - an £11m signing from Inter Miami - started on the left flank against Leeds United and impressed with a second half brace in the 3-0 win.
The Paraguayan looks certain to keep his spot against Palace and he could be a regular challenger to Mitoma going forward.
"Yeah," said head coach Fabian Hurzeler toSussex World when asked if Mitoma now has a fight on his hands. “It's also important, the players understand we can't rest in one training session.
"We need high numbers of players in our squad, we need the most availability we can have. At the moment we don't have it.
“It's not easy to build that competition in an artificial way, but I'm sure when the players come back after an international break, we have a big competition, we have a lot of players fighting for position.
“This can only develop our intensity in training, can develop our style of play, so I'm really looking forward to it, because I think that's key for us."
Gomez played left wing for Inter Miami
Gomez has played in a number of positions since his arrival. He has featured as a deep midfielder, a No 10 and now the left flank. Hurzeler feels the goals against Leeds will be a huge confidence boost.
“Diego seemed to be very happy,” said the German. “He scored two goals, it's important why he scored the two goals.
“He scored them because he was very present in the opponent's box. He attacked the opponent's box with full intensity, and that's just the key if you want to score goals.
“For him, he did it his whole career, he played in different positions for his whole career, and again that's just a good thing for him and also for me.
“You need to find solutions, then you need players who are capable of playing in different positions.
“He played this position for a long period for his previous club Inter Miami, where he played as a wing, and he also played this position for his national team already, so he's capable of doing it.”
Continue Reading