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Brighton vs Nottingham Forest FA Cup quarter-final team news
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler will be keeping an eye on his key South American trio ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final clash with Nottingham Forest.
Joao Pedro, Pervis Estupinan and Diego Gomez have all been in South American World Cup qualification action during the international break and all three face long-haul flights back hours before the 5.15pm Saturday kick-off at the Amex Stadium.
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Pervis Estupinan (centre) Diego Gomez (left) and Joao Pedro (right) face a long haul flight back to the UK ahead of the Nottingham Forest FA Cup clashPervis Estupinan (centre) Diego Gomez (left) and Joao Pedro (right) face a long haul flight back to the UK ahead of the Nottingham Forest FA Cup clash
Pervis Estupinan (centre) Diego Gomez (left) and Joao Pedro (right) face a long haul flight back to the UK ahead of the Nottingham Forest FA Cup clash
Pedro started for Brazil in the 2-1 win against Colombia last week and is also set to play a part in their Wednesday night clash against Argentina.
The qualifier in Buenos Aires is expected to finish around 2am on Wednesday. Pedro then faces a 15-hour flight from the Argentinian capital to the UK.
Estupinan played the full 90 as Ecuador beat Venezuela 2-1 last Friday and will be in action at midnight tonight (UK time) as they take on Chile at Estadio Nacional in Chile.
Meanwhile, Gomez is starting to establish himself as a key man in Hurzeler’s midfield after his £12m January arrival from Inter Miami.
Gomez was suspended for Paraguay’s 1-0 win against Chile but is expected to feature in Wednesday night’s clash in Colombia, also with an expected finish time of around 2am.
All three will be assessed for jet-lag and fatigue as they return for Albion duty in what is expected to be a high-octane cup-tie against a Forest team that thrashed Albion 7-0 in the Premier League at the City Ground last month.
Fabian Hurzeler ‘confident and convinced’
Hurzeler expects all three to be ready for action and said previous experience of these long-haul international breaks will help them.
"They are very experienced with these situations,” said the Albion boss prior to the break. “It's not the first time that they have this situation and therefore I am quite convinced and confident that they will come back in good shape with a good mindset. "Hopefully all of their games will be positive, especially for the South American players. Whenever I talk with them about their national team, you can really feel the passion and the honour they have inside of them to play for their country. "I see it more in a positive way that this will give them another boost to come back with hopefully a big victory for Diego, for Pervis and for Joao, and then they can help us for the final third of the season, so I am quite confident and convinced that this won't have a big impact in a negative way. More the opposite, I think it will help us in a positive way."
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