Brighton injury blow as 5 set to miss Newcastle United FA Cup tie

Brighton and Hove Albion have several injury concerns ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Newcastle United.

Fabian Hurzeler’s side have hit an upturn in form in recent weeks after taking maximum points from home games with Chelsea and Bournemouth and a visit to bottom of the table Southampton. That has taken the Seagulls into contention for a European spot - but they will turn their focus towards the search for major silverware when they head to St James Park on Sunday afternoon. After seeing off Norwich City and Chelsea earlier in the FA Cup, Albion will aim to replicate their league win at St James Park in October to reach the last eight of the competition for the second time in the last four seasons.

However, the Seagulls will travel to Tyneside without a number of key players with former Magpies winger James Milner (hamstring), Igor Julio (hamstring) Jason Steele (shoulder) and Ferdi Kadioglu (toe) all on the sidelines. Joel Veltman remains a doubt with a foot injury and Hurzeler is awaiting news on the fitness of defensive duo Tariq Lamptey and Adam Webster before finalising his plans for the tie.

The Seagulls boss has already been dealt a major blow after he confirmed long-serving captain Lewis Dunk is likely to miss the game as he approaches the final stages of his recovery from a back injury that has kept him on the sidelines since his side claimed a 2-1 win against Chelsea in the previous round.

When asked for updates on the injury situation within the Seagulls squad, Hurzeler said: "So far, there is no other change. Hopefully, it stays like this. Of course we are looking forward to our skipper [Dunk] being back, but I think that the game on Sunday will be a little bit too early.

"I have to find the balance of the squad who will start. We have some players who came back after an injury. We have some players who didn't play so much in the Premier League. We have players like Tariq [Lamptey] and Adam [Webster], who played a lot in the past [weeks]. Because also we had a lot of injuries and they had to go for two lots of 90 minutes. We will see who will play on Sunday. But the most important thing is that we get the freshest team on the pitch, the most ready team on the pitch and therefore we have to make the right choice."

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