Aston Villa boss Dean Smith and Brighton's Graham Potter clash on five substitutes debate

Prior to the international break the likes of Brighton, Manchester United and Liverpool were outspoken on the need to bring back the option for more replacements during matches to prevent injuries.

But Smith, who has seen Jack Grealish and John McGinn each play three times in a week for England and Scotland respectively, has not seen an impact on his players.

“We had a meeting yesterday and we spoke at length about each manager’s individual feelings,” he said ahead of Aston Villa's clash with Brighton this Saturday.

“I can only go from my football club, and if player welfare becomes an issue then it’s a no-brainer and you have to increase substitutions or look at the fixture scheduling.

“At the moment, I’m not seeing any trends from my players that suggest player welfare is an issue.

“I speak to my players all the time – I want the best for them and I want to look after them. That’s what we’re doing.”

Albion head coach Graham Potter takes the opposite view and feels five substitutions is required during this hectic period and will help ease the burden on his players.

"I was in favour of it after project restart and I was in favour of it at the start of this year,"said Potter.

"I thought we would lose time from the calendar and games would be crammed in. You then add to that international fixtures and that covid-19 is still around and you get more positives tests.

"It just made sense to me to keep the five subs. It lightens the load a little and is a help to the players.

"That was my thoughts at the time and nothing has really changed.

"There is enough money in the Premier League and we should be able to assemble squads to cope with these fixtures problems, even though they are quite complicated. Absolutely."

Brighton are likely to be without Leandro Trossard and Alexis Mac Allister for their trip to Villa Park.

Trossard is struggling with a pelvic issue while Mac Allister reportedly tested positive for covid-19, which is unconfirmed by the club.

This weekend’s match against Brighton comes too soon for Villa's Bjorn Engels (thigh) and Frederic Guilbert (side strain).

Smith will hope, however, an in-form Grealish returns unscathed after some impressive displays for England.

“Jack’s at the top of his game and I’m really pleased for him and proud of him,” said the Villa boss.

“I’m pleased for him more than anything because he’s worked extremely hard and he continues to do so.

“I think anybody at Aston Villa would have more of a biased opinion and say he’s been performing like that for a while.

“I actually didn’t watch England vs Ireland because one of our other players had a bigger game in the Euro play-offs, John McGinn (for Scotland) against Serbia. I watched that game.”