Wolves v Albion
FA CUP - FIFTH ROUND
Venue: Molineux Stadium
Date: Wednesday 28th February 2024
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Andrew Madley
Assistants: Nick Hopton, Nick Greenhaigh
Fourth Official: Sam Barrott
VAR: Anthony Taylor, John Brooks
Additional VAR: Simon Bennett
De Zerbi on Mitoma injury and making 'fans happy'
Roberto de Zerbi has been speaking to the media before Brighton's FA Cup fifth round tie against Wolves on Wednesday.
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
- De Zerbi confirmed that Karou Mitoma is likely to miss the remainder of the season with a back injury and added: "It is an important problem, I think two to three months [out] but that finishes the season [for him]."
- He also confirmed that Evan Ferguson and Joel Veltman are unavailable for Wednesday's match, while Danny Welbeck will be checked tomorrow in what is a "bad situation" for the club.
- Asked if he was frustrated by the injury difficulties, De Zerbi said: "No I am not frustrated, it can happen in football, this situation has never changed between September and now. We [try] to work with enthusiasm and pride, try to transform the problem to opportunities like we have done until this moment. But don't worry because tomorrow we fight to try and win the game, away at Fulham and away the same in Europe against Roma too."
- He said it is a "big opportunity" if they beat Wolves to reach the quarter final and that they "want to win and make our fans happy, make our club happy".
- On their opponents, he said: "[They are a] very good team, playing well, they won at Chelsea and Tottenham. I watch a lot of their last games, they have clear style of play, lots of good players especially in attack, everywhere, they are competing to reach a European place in table."
- On using disappointment from semi-final defeat on penalties last season, he said: "My focus is to play well, to keep our organisation on the pitch and to play showing character, patience, pride - our values are more important than penalties or results. To reach results we have to play as Brighton."
- Asked about the red card Billy Gilmour received in comparison to similar challenges that didn't result in a sending off, he said: "It is a difficult to take decision in that situation. Development of football is different to what you see on TV, on TV it is totally different. I don't know the rule but if you have played football you can understand the foul of Billy Gilmour because it is part of football."
- This is just the second FA Cup meeting between Wolves and Brighton, with Wolves winning a third round tie 3-2 in 1978-79.
- Brighton have won their past three away games against Wolves in all competitions, having won just one of their previous 11 visits to Molineux before this (D7 L3).
- Wolves are looking to reach the FA Cup quarter-final for the third time this century, previously doing so in 2002-03 and 2018-19.
- Since promotion to the Premier League in 2017, Brighton are looking to reach the FA Cup quarter-final for the fourth time (2017-18, 2018-19 and 2022-23). They had only done so twice in their history before this (1982-83 and 1985-86).
- Brighton's Joao Pedro has scored six goals in his past three FA Cup games. He is the joint-top scorer in this season's competition with five (first round onwards), netting a hat-trick in the fourth round against Sheffield United.
Roberto De Zerbi's Wolves Press Conference
Last edited:
