Graham Potter reveals worrying extent of covid-19, injuries and suspension ahead of Wolves and Man United

Brighton are due to play Wolves at the Amex Stadium but will be without a host of players to face Bruno Lage's ninth placed team.

Three - possibly four - first team players have tested positive for covid-19 and further tests are due to take place on Tuesday.

Skipper Lewis Dunk has been ruled out with a knee injury and is set to miss six weeks and fellow defender Adam Webster will miss the match with a calf problem.

Albion's defensive options are depleted further as Shane Duffy is suspended for one match and Joel Veltman has not trained much after a knock at Southampton.

Attackers Jeremy Sarmiento (hamstring) and Danny Welbeck (hamstring) are also out.

Potter said: "It’s been a combination of injury and a bit of Covid ourselves, obviously Lewis Dunk is out, we wont see him until January.

"Adam Webster is getting close, there’s an outside chance for the weekend, but not this game. Jeremy Sarmiento has had his operation so that’s gone well, but he’s not available for the game.

"Shane [Duffy] is suspended, and there’s a few who are ill. It’s a test at the moment, but there’s an opportunity for the boys who have been desperate to play and want to help the team. We’re excited for that."

The one positive is that Leo Trossard, who was stretchered off in the 1-1 draw at Southampton, is fit having recovered from his elbow problem.

"He’s fine, he’s one of the bits of good news," said Potter on Trossard. "Adam [Lallana] has got a chance to make the bench on Wednesday, so that’s really positive.

"Danny [Welbeck] has made really good progress as well, the game on Wednesday will come too soon for him though."

Ninth placed Wolves will be without their star striker Raul Jimenez, who was sent-ff against Man City last week, but Potter insists they will have enough attacking talent to adjust.

"They haven’t got another Jimenez, they have got to adjust, they have got a number of options in their front three positions, they’re quite fluid in there.

"The structure behind them helps them, they’ve done well. They suffered at the start of the season in terms of playing well but not getting the results.

"If they did they’d be a lot higher up the table. We respect what they’re doing, but we have got our own issues, it’s a part of life, you have to find the best solution for your team."

Brighton were set to play Tottenham at the Amex on Sunday but the match was postponed due to a Covid outbreak in the Spurs camp.

Potter added: "It was a fairly obvious one in terms of the seriousness of the outbreak at Tottenham, once you hear about that then it’s about the safety and health of players and the people there, so we supported the decision to postpone the game."

At this stage the Wolves match is set to go ahead but the situation could change if Albion report further positive tests to the Premier League.

Man United, who Albion play on Saturday, have requested for their match against Brentford on Tuesday to be postponed due to positive cases.

"We’ve not spoken about postponing," said Potter. "We’re just monitoring at the moment to make sure you’re not playing guys who have got Covid and are spreading it to the other team.

"We’ve got to do what we can, keep testing and keep the number as low as possible.

"We’ve had a round today and then we will make a decision as to whether or not we have to do another round tomorrow. We’re in that stage now where we don’t want a spread.

"We’re all in the same position. First and foremost the health and safety of the players and everyone around is the most important thing. We’ve seen people will miss games because of this, the trick is for it to not be so serious and for it to get too big.

"Antonio Conte made a good point, you test one day and then test the next and it’s negative, then the following day it’s positive."