BRIGHTON MANAGER ROBERTO De Zerbi has confirmed that Kaoru Mitoma is set to miss the rest of the season with a back injury, while Republic of Ireland striker Evan Ferguson should sufficiently recover from an ankle knock to face Fulham in the Premier League this Saturday.

Mitoma, 26, missed Brighton’s 1-1 draw with Everton last weekend with a back issue and De Zerbi confirmed ahead of his side’s FA Cup trip to Wolves on Wednesday that the Japanese attacker has “an important problem”.

“I think we lost Mitoma until the end of the season,” said the Brighton boss. “I think two or three months, finished the season.”

Ireland striker Ferguson, 19, has struggled for consistent minutes since making an explosive start to the season and hasn’t scored in 16 games, his last goal coming away at Nottingham Forest in November.

Ferguson will sit out Wednesday’s cup fixture ahead of an expected return to squad contention on Saturday.

The same applies to Dutch defender Joël Veltman, while Danny Welbeck will undergo a fitness check to determine his availability for the cup game at Molineux.