Brighton vs Chelsea in the Premier League at the Amex Stadium - Tuesday, 8pm
Brighton's Greek striker Charalampos Kostoulas appears to be back in the good books.
The young talent has had to be patient this season with just two starts from his 17 Premier League appearances. Kostoulas has totalled just over 300 minutes of top flight game time this term.
The £30m man made a rare cameo in the 2-2 draw at Tottenham last Saturday as he came on for the final eight minutes. It was his first outing since he played the final nine minutes in the 1-0 loss at Aston Villa back in February.
It was always going to be a period of transition for Kostoulas, who is well behind veteran striker Danny Welbeck in the pecking order for the lead striking role.
Georginio, who has largely struggled this term, can also play as the main striker, while fellow Greek Stefanos Tzimas suffered an ACL injury earlier this campaign.
Kostoulas was also called out by head coach Fabian Hurzeler earlier this term as the Brighton boss publicly encouraged him to train harder. "Others are training better," explained Hurzeler when asked why Kostoulas had missed out on successive matchday squads in March.
His inclusion at Tottenham is a sign Kostoulas is moving in the right direction and he will hope to feature tonight against Chelsea at the Amex Stadium.
Babis showed a great impact
"If a player is frustrated he can't show this kind of impact," said Hurzeler to Sussex World.
"Babis showed at the weekend, so he came into the pitch, showed a great impact, showed a good effort for the team, played well, defended well, attacked well.
"So therefore I was very happy for him because similar to Georginio, he proved that in every training session now, he kept working hard, he keeps believing in his own qualities.
"So therefore we know that he has an unbelievable potential. We also know that he's quite young, so we try to give him the support he needs and long-term he will be a big player for us."
Hurzeler will also have to decide if Welbeck, 35, is fresh enough to go from the start, having played 75 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Saturday.
"Let's see, there are always possibilities,” said Hurzeler.
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