Speaking at Thursday’s press conference, Fabian Hurzeler confirmed that Charalampos Kostoulas was merely rested for Brighton and Hove Albion’s midweek EFL Cup defeat at the Etihad Stadium.

The young Greek striker didn’t make their 20-man squad.

• READ MORE: Press conferences for Gameweek 9

Yankuba Minteh (leg) and Mats Wieffer (knee) marked their comebacks with substitute appearances in the same game.

As for the others, Chema Andres (hip) and Ferdi Kadioglu (hip) are expected to return in Gameweek 9. Both had to come off at Anfield last Sunday.

Pascal Struijk (hamstring), Zadok Yohanna (unspecified) and Stefan Tzimas (knee) are training again, but this match looks set to come too soon.

“A positive was that Minteh and Mats Wieffer had their comeback yesterday.

“Ferdi, Chema, also Kostoulas, we rested yesterday… we are quite convinced that they will be an option for Saturday.

“Regarding Pascal Struijk, he won’t be an option for the weekend, but we are quite convinced that he will be back afterwards.

“And regarding the other players who were out for a long time, Zadok is back on the training pitch. Also, Stefanos Tzimas, after his ACL, is back on the training pitch, so therefore plenty of positives.

“Hopefully we can keep this availability now because this will be also crucial for the next period.” – Fabian Hurzeler

Femi Azeez (hamstring), Kaoru Mitoma (hamstring) and Evan Ferguson (ankle) also remain out.

Hurzeler was asked if any of the positive showings against Manchester City gave him a headache for the swift rematch.

“Yeah, we saw a lot of positives, plenty individual performances, so that’s something will be definitely take away. If we will change something in the starting XI, it also depends on if players are available or not, how they present themselves after the game yesterday, because one thing is very important: that we go there with a mentally and with a physically refreshed team because we know that we need intensity against City.” – Fabian Hurzeler