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Fabian Hurzeler has been carefully managing Danny Welbeck’s minutes in recent weeks – but has unleashed him to face one of his former teams in the FA Cup.
Veteran striker Danny Welbeck has featured in 20 of Albion’s 21 Premier League matches so far this season – but he started just 12 of those.
He has eight goals to his name this term but has just one in his last nine appearances – a penalty the 2-2 draw at West Ham.
The 35-year-old has been dealing with a lower back issue, which has given Hurzeler reason to be cautious, of late – often choosing to play Georginio Rutter furthest forward.
Danny Welbeck will be looking to haunt his old team, once again, as Brighton visit Manchester United in the FA Cup. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)placeholder image
Danny Welbeck will be looking to haunt his old team, once again, as Brighton visit Manchester United in the FA Cup. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
“The restrictions are not regarding his back,” explained Hurzeler. “It's just a general thing. We managed him, quite well through the last 18 months.
“Because regarding the statistics, he played the most minutes ever.
“So therefore I'm very pleased how my medical department takes care of him and how he takes care of himself.
“Of course, a player always wants to play, so that's always the procedure you have to deal with.
“But in the end we need to make sure that we take care of his body and of his health, because I think the worst thing that could happen is that he gets injured, and that's something we try to avoid.”
Welbeck is out of contract this summer but Hurzeler said he is ‘definitely’ keen to work with him next season, if possible.
The striker will be looking to add to his tally of seven goals against Manchester United – the team where he came through the ranks as a youngster, and spent six years in the senior team.
Hurzeler added: “We have to restrict [Welbeck] and I think that's the only reason at the moment.
“We have to manage him because he's not capable of starting two games in a row in a quite short period of time.
“I have conversations with him about that. Of course, he's not always happy but, in the end, we need to manage him.
“Because we want to have him on the pitch for the second part of the season, and we have to make decisions to protect his health.”
Meanwhile, Charalampos ‘Babis’ Kostoulas has recovered from a minor, undisclosed, injury – described as a ‘slight issue’ – which kept him out of the Premier League match at Manchester City on Wednesday (January 7).
The 18-year-old is fit enough for the bench at Old Trafford – where he scored his first goal for the club back in October.
James Milner – who is chasing the all-time Premier League record for number of appearances (653)– is absent from the matchday squad for unspecified reasons. The 40-year-old needs to feature two more times to equal Gareth Barry’s record.
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