Every word from Fabian Hurzeler ahead of Sunderland

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2025-12-19T15:50+00:00

Fabian Hurzeler's team have won nine of their 18 Premier League home games in 2025. 📷 by Simon Roe.

Fabian Hurzeler was asked about Sunderland's excellent start to the campaign and covering for absentees in his press conference on Friday.

Have you got any fresh injury worries after the Liverpool game?

We have no fresh injury worries.

Good news. It's not such good news that Lewis Dunk, your captain and leader, is suspended. How much of a miss is that going to be against a strong, physical Sunderland?

He’s a big, big miss definitely. But we have a strong squad, we have other players who are able to replace him. Of course Lewis is a big miss, but we also have a big confidence in our players who will replace him.

I won't ask you directly who is going to replace him, but it's widely thought that Olivier Boscagli is a strong contender...

Olivier Boscagli joined Albion from PSV in the summer. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

If I choose him. He's a great player, he hasn't had so much game time yet, but he's training really well. He is integrating more and more into the group. That is very important for us as a club to really lift this togetherness. We are quite pleased. On top of that he's really good in possession, has a great left foot, can really outplay the opponent with his passes. He's a clever player. He understands the game and on top of that he's a good communicator. So overall, if he replaces Lewis, he's a good replacement.

You said before the Liverpool game that Danny Welbeck has some small issues which restricted his training before that game. How has his fitness been this week and is he an option to start?

It's still restricted. But Danny sometimes does incredible things. Let's see if he's an option to start. But the issue has not healed yet and it's still restricting him during the training week.

If Danny doesn't play who would captain the team?

That's a really good question. I hadn't thought about that yet, but we have a strong leadership group. Jan Paul van Hecke, Jason Steele, Adam Webster, James Milner. Hopefully there might be other options who can replace Lewis and Danny.

You suggested last week that the injury to Stefanos Tzimas could mean the club might look at the forward line in January, possibly strengthening in that department. Are you any clearer in your own mind about that? And have you had any further talks with your sporting director and Tony Bloom about this?

We have ongoing talks. We always have a good exchange and we talked about this position. So let's see how we plan in the winter period.

Tommy Watson was signed from Sunderland. He scored the goal that secured their place in the Premier League in in the play-off final. How do you assess his adaptation and his progress since he's been here? And also do you get a real sense of his desperate to play on Saturday?

Tommy Watson scored the goal that secured play-off victory for Sunderland earlier this year. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

We can all feel that he's desperate to play. He trained well this week, so he's definitely an option for tomorrow. His start was not easy and you can see that in the amount of his game time. It’s not been easy to get into rhythm for him because he always has small issues regarding his body. But hopefully now he's getting stronger, physically his body handles the adaptation better, then we see his potential. We see his potential every week in training. We see his potential in some game minutes he had fast so far. But the main thing for us is his body being able to adapt, how fast his body's able to adapt to get into his rhythm. And then I'm sure that he can help us.

Just to go back to what you said about Danny, what actually is his issue?

He has some minor issues with his back.

Is Solly March any closer to maybe being involved this weekend?

Not for this weekend, but definitely closer, so he's progressing.

Will we see him before the new year?

It shouldn't be a race, it doesn’t have to be before the new year. We are all pleased and we will all be happy if it happens, but I think it's very important to be patient, to not force it. Then let's see when it happens.

In terms of suspensions and AFCON, has it given you a bit of a headache selection wise this week?

Not a headache. We still have a strong squad. We still have a lot of possibilities and I always emphasize that. Every player is important. Every player will be important in our squad and I think it’s a perfect opportunity for us to prove it. It's a perfect opportunity for us as a club, as a team, to show how we can replace the individual players and therefore we are really looking forward to managing it well, to see an opportunity and to use this.

Brighton have had 69 shots in their last four matches – you said about Danny potentially being a doubt for this weekend. What's being done in training to kind of work on that, maybe get those shots on target and obviously get some more goals?

Danny Welbeck has scored seven Premier League goals so far this campaign. 📷 by James Boardman.

Working, training, improving, improving with individual training sessions, to keep working on creating chances. That's the main thing because in the end, of course Danny has an unbelievable quality in front of the goal, but we have a big trust and belief in other players as well, that they can score goals because they already proved it in their career so far. We have players who can score goals. On top of that, we have good centre-backs who are strong at set-pieces. I don't have a big concern. My concerns would be bigger if we weren't able to outplay opponents, if we aren't able to create chances. But that's not the fact.

If he plays tomorrow, Joel Veltman will make his 150th appearance in the Premier League. How important is he to you when he's playing, but also when he's not playing?

I always categorise the team into leaders, into the players who have the creativity and the team players. I think Joel is in the category of team player, and they're so important because they're there for the team. They don't put their ego ahead of the team. That's something that is so crucial. I'm really happy to have him in my team. I'm really happy to have him as a person in the building here. On top of that, he has proved that he's a great football player as well. Overall, we are very happy that he's here.

In terms of Sunderland, they invested very well in the summer. They're also doing very well in the Premier League this season. What have you made of how their new signings have adapted and what they're doing so far?

They've definitely made their squad very strong. They have a lot of maturity on the pitch. They understand how to win Premier League games. They have a strong togetherness and they fight together, they sprint together, they look very compact, high pressure, very man orientated, low pressure, very compact, it’s difficult to score goals against them. And then on top of that, they're good at set-pieces, long throw-ins, free-kicks from everywhere and good in transition. It’s a big challenge for us.

The home form has been an excellent positive this year. It's the final home game of the year. What have you got to say to the supporters that will be there tomorrow?

Jack Hinshelwood celebrates in front of the West Stand after scoring against Brentford. 📷 by Simon Roe.

Like always, We, we are very pleased how they supported us during the whole year, not only away, also in our home games and the most important thing is we hope that we can give them a nice Christmas present tomorrow.

You are losing two central midfielders in Diego Gomez and Carlos Baleba. How's Yasin Ayari done this week? How's he pushed on after his return?

He's an option tomorrow.

On Kaoru Mitoma, people know about his individual skill, but what does he add to the whole group? Because it did seem to change the balance of the side when he came on [against Liverpool], it released Ferdi Kadioglu a little bit more as well. Is it not just about his individual skill that he contributes?

I think by his individual skill he contributes so much to the team because every opponent knows if they try to defend against him one-against-one, they will have problems. They always have to double up if they want to defend him. This gives us a free player in another part of the pitch, then it's about how do we find the free player. So I think that's a big contribution from Kaoru. On top of that, we need his goals. We need a system. I think every team relies on their top players and he's one of our top players, so therefore his contribution is massive for us.

You mentioned that Tommy Watson's been training well and will probably want to play against his former club. What about Simon Adingra? I imagine it'd be the same for him now. He's not going to AFCON. He's had limited opportunities at Sunderland hasn't he?

Simon Adingra won AFCON with the Ivory Coast while he was an Albion player. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Yes, unfortunately for him because he's a great lad and a great football player. We really enjoyed working with him. But maybe he gets a chance to tomorrow. Hopefully he's not able to score. But overall I wish him only the best because he definitely deserves it.

Sunderland are losing a lot of players to AFCON, but one person who will be staying is Granit Xhaka. How influential do you think he's been, particularly for a promoted side in the Premier League?

I have followed him already for a long time because he played for a German club. He won a lot of titles for Leverkusen and you can already see his impact at Sunderland. He's a big leader for them. He's a big communicator. He understands the game well. He's definitely one of their key players.

Can Kaoru Mitoma start on Saturday?

He is a starting option, but let's see. It's about getting an understanding with the medical (department) what is best for an individual player.