Brighton and Hove Albion team news ahead of Sunday’s Premier League trip to Everton
Baleba struggled with a knee issue throughout pre-season but started the Premier League opener against Fulham last Saturday and came through 69 minutes unscathed.
The 21-year-old Cameroon international – who was heavily linked with a summer switch to Manchester United – has trained well this week and barring any late mishaps, is all good for the Everton trip.
Carlos Baleba has trained this week after 69 minutes of Premier League action against Fulhamplaceholder image
Carlos Baleba has trained this week after 69 minutes of Premier League action against Fulham
"Very positive," said Hrzeler when asked about Baleba in his pre-Everton press conference.
"He trained the last stages, so very positive. Of course, we needed to take care of him after he was out for almost three, four weeks.
"And we couldn't let him play for 90 minutes. "But now it's about getting him back to his highest level regarding physicality, and then I'm sure it will be an option for us at the weekend."
Jack Hinshelwood ‘an option’ at Everton
Brighton are also set to welcome back England under-21 international Jack Hinshelwood, who missed the Fulham draw with a “minor issue.”
"He trained fully so far, so he will be an option," confirmed the boss.
Brighton will though be without long-term absentees Solly March and Adam Webster as both continue to recover from knee injuries.
Hinshelwood will hope to force his way back into the midfield but faces a tough job to break-up the Baleba and Yasin Ayari partnership. Hurzeler was hugely impressed with Ayari's display against Fulham.
Fabian Hurzeler: Yasin Ayari is the ‘benchmark’
"I'm very happy with how Yasin has developed,” said Hurzeler on his Sweden international. “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, with Yasin, with Jack, with Diego, and also Matt O’Riley, that we have players who can communicate with each other.”
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