Brighton vs Crystal Palace: Key man passes fitness test and Barcelona loanee returns after Roberto De Zerbi makes interesting transfer verdict - 'Two less players'

Roberto De Zerbi has made four changes to the team which suffered a shock 4-0 at Luton – with Bart Verbruggen, Tariq Lamptey, Jack Hinshelwood and Evan Ferguson all starting.

Jason Steele, Pervis Estupinan, James Milner and Danny Welbeck drop to the bench.

Barcelona loanee Ansu Fati is on the bench after ten weeks out. Lamptey, 23, is making his first start for ten weeks.

Crystal Palace, meanwhile, are without the injured Eberechi Eze and fellow talisman Michael Olise is only fit enough for the bench.

The confirmation of the team news comes after De Zerbi hinted he wasn’t entirely pleased with Brighton’s January transfer business.

The Seagulls focused on signing teenagers – with defender Valentin Barco, 19, joining from Boca Juniors; midfielder Kamari Doyle, 18, arriving from Southampton; goalkeeper Steven Hall linking up with the under 21s after signing from Adelaide United; 19-year-old forward Caylan Vickers swapping Reading for Albion and and 18-year-old attacking midfielder Josh Robertson moving from Sunderland.

Mahmoud Dahoud, who only signed for Brighton in the summer, made a deadline-day loan to Stuttgart – but his experience hasn’t been replaced.

De Zerbi said: "I think we are two less players in midfield.

"I spoke with the club, but they decided a different way. We have [Jakub] Moder, we have [Carlos] Baleba, we have Jack Hinshelwood. He can play in the midfield position. We move on anyway."

De Zerbi said ‘the transfer market is closed’ and ‘it's not my business’.

"It's finished,” he added. “It's not a problem.

“With new players or without new players, my ambition, my passion, my energy can't change.

“I want to reach the highest target we can and my focus is very strong on the target. It's not important if I had a different expectation.

“Everyone can think what they want and stop.”

De Zerbi said Brighton, to achieve their target, ‘have to recover the injured players’, adding: “Then we can speak for one hour, two hours on the new target.

“Now we are suffering a lot, because we are 13, 14, 15 players maximum.

“When we are 15, we are more than happy. And playing three times per week is tough, because we are not used to playing three games.

"You have to reach the games with 100 per cent energy. If you have 50 per cent energy in the Premier League you will lose every game.

“If you have 20 per cent of your energy, you lose 4-0 at Luton.

“Because Luton played a fantastic game, the best game they played I don't know in their life but anyway this season. And we played the worst in our life and not this season."