ROBERTO DE ZERBI expects Evan Ferguson to play an important role against Ajax on Thursday as Brighton deal with injury setbacks.
Brighton host the Dutch side at the Amex Stadium tomorrow in the third round of Europa League group fixtures.
De Zerbi has to plan for the game without Solly March, with the winger set to be out of action for an extended period after sustaining a knee injury in the 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday. Brighton are also missing striker Danny Welbeck, who picked up an injury in the same game.
With March and Welbeck unavailable, De Zerbi has backed Republic of Ireland striker Ferguson to step up.
“Solly March is injured, Danny Welbeck as well. We have enough to play and win the game,” De Zerbi said.
“Solly unfortunately is a very, very tough injury, a very important injury. We lose him for a long period and for Welbeck the same.
“Solly I’ve not seen after the Manchester City game but we love him and we will be very close with him to support him every day. We have to accept that football is like this and injury can happen.
“I know (what the injury is) but it is not my job to inform you about the injury. I know we lose an important player for a long time, but I don’t want to cry because sometimes the coaches cry when they lose players. We have to move on and we have to work hard to find a solution, Facundo Buonanotte will find more space, (Simon) Adingra will become more important for this team.
“Evan Ferguson will be important, the same as last season, and we are waiting for Julio Enciso, I don’t know how much time he needs to be back in the group.
“We have to work harder and don’t speak too much about the injury because we have to accept.”
Brighton are bottom of Group B having picked up just one point from their opening two games against AEK Athens and Marseille. AEK lead the group on four points, with Ajax and Marseille both on two points.
“It is important to win tomorrow, for the players,” De Zerbi continued.
“We have to try to win every game. In the Europa League we have six games and if we want to finish in first place we have to win. We have a positive mentality, we have to play showing the quality of the players and the play which got us into Europe.
“The history of Ajax is incredible. They are in a difficult moment. But every year they play in Europe and play three games a week during this period. But it is football – if you are better [on the day] you will win the game whether you have the history or not. But we know it will be very difficult.”
