Seagulls’ run giving selection headache
Brighton boss Chris Hughton believes his side’s FA Cup run is giving him a Premier League selection headache.
Hughton made nine changes to his starting XI as Albion progressed to the quarter-finals for the first time in 32 years by beating League Two Coventry 3-1.
Debutant Jurgen Locadia, defender Connor Goldson and recent loan signing Leonardo Ulloa were among the men brought in and they all found the net.
Brighton will now turn their attention back to the scrap for top-flight survival and Hughton acknowledges he has been given some difficult decisions to make ahead of this coming weekend’s clash with fellow strugglers Swansea.
“From our point of view, we’ve been very fortunate this season that we haven’t had a lot of injuries and when that’s the case you have a lot of players pushing to play,” said Hughton, whose team have been drawn away to Manchester United in the last eight of the cup. “And, as you’ve seen in our rounds so far, we’ve very much used the squad and what that helps to create is a changing room where the large majority of players are getting games.
“That absolutely helps the competition we have in the squad. There has been that mainstay of the team but a lot of competition around that and it’s always difficult for me to pick a team.”
Record signing Locadia, a £14million buy from PSV Eindhoven, took just 15 minutes to open his Albion account before headers from Goldson and Ulloa secured a straightforward win.