MatchBrighton & Hove Albion v Liverpool: Carabao Cup team news

The Reds continue their defence of the trophy by travelling to Amex Stadium for a 7.30pm GMT kick-off in the fourth round on Wednesday night.

Conor Bradley is closing on a return to action and could be involved, though Arne Slot remains unable to call on Alisson Becker, Federico Chiesa, Harvey Elliott and Diogo Jota.

“Conor is training with us again so he could maybe be in the squad tomorrow,” said the head coach at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday morning.

“Jota not, Alisson not, Harvey Elliott not, and Federico, I’m not expecting him to be in the squad tomorrow as well.

“I think Wata is one of the players that might be in the line-up because the season is going to be so long and we will need him during the season. Therefore, once in a while he needs this playing time as well.

“Every time when we need him – even if it’s for five minutes – he shows up for the team, for his teammates and for himself. Also for that reason he deserves to play tomorrow.”

Brighton skipper Dunk sustained an injury in the warm-up ahead of their 2-2 Premier League draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend.

“He has a small muscle issue, not that big,” reported head coach Fabian Hurzeler on Tuesday. “He’s a great healer. We have to go day by day and for sure we can’t take any risks with him.

“But he’s keen on coming back as soon as possible. So we have to go day for day and then we will see when he will be back.

“Both [Jack Hinshelwood and Yankuba Minteh] have a chance. I think the chance of Jack is even higher. He will for sure be a part of the squad tomorrow.

“With Minteh we’ll see. We have to look how he is today and then we have to make a decision if we take a risk with him or not, but they’re all in good shape at the moment.

“They’re both on the pitch and then we have to see how far they are and if it makes sense if they begin or are in the squad. [Jason Steele] will start.”

Hurzeler continued: “I think it’s always an opportunity for players to give them a chance to start, but I think it’s very important that we let the players play who deserve to play and not just because it’s a cup game.

“It’s very important that the players who are non-starters at the moment, that they give everything in training, that they are ready to play this game, that they deserve to play. And you only deserve it if you work hard at training every day, if you try to push yourself, if you try to support your teammate, if you’re not playing and that’s very important.

“I think Tariq [Lamptey] is one great example and he is always there. He’s in a good shape. He’s training very good. He played now some minutes also for Ghana in the international break. So I think he will be ready.”

Former Reds midfielder James Milner has not featured for Brighton since the last day of August due to a hamstring issue.

Liverpool made nine changes to their starting XI for the previous round, in which Slot’s men delivered a 5-1 victory over West Ham United at Anfield.

The Dutchman suggested that sort of turnover in personnel is unlikely versus the Seagulls, however.

“I don’t think it’s possible to do the same as we did against West Ham for the simple reason that we got some injuries, so we don’t have maybe enough players to change them all if I wanted that,” said Slot.

“We played against Arsenal on Sunday, yesterday [Monday] was mostly recovery for everyone, so today when they come in – and they have to come in as we speak – we will find out how they all are and then we have to make a decision on who is going to start.”

Slot can choose between Vitezslav Jaros and Caoimhin Kelleher as the Reds’ goalkeeper at the Amex, with the latter currently first-choice in the absence of Alisson.

“I haven’t made my decision yet, so we will see tomorrow,” the boss said. “It’s also a decision you take [where] you can include your goalkeeper coach with that.

“But in the end I have to make that decision and I also want to hear how fit Caoimhin is at the moment – he played many games. Let’s wait and see what decision I make tomorrow.”

Last match

Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool (October 27): Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones, Salah, Nunez, Diaz.

Brighton 2-2 Wolves (October 26): Verbruggen, Veltman, Van Hecke, Igor, Estupinan, Baleba, Ayari, Kadigolu, Mitoma, Rutter, Welbeck.