BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION manager Graham Potter says Irish youngster Aaron Connolly is ready to play his part in helping the club to avoid relegation from the Premier League.
Connolly looked set to miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery on an ankle injury back in March.
However, the rescheduling of the campaign due to the Covid-19 pandemic has allowed the 20-year-old striker to return in time to be invovled in his club’s nine-game run-in.
That begins for Brighton – who sit two points above the relegation zone – with a home game against Arsenal tomorrow. According to Graham Potter, Connolly is in contention to feature.
“He has come back well and worked hard after the break. The physios have done a really good job on him,” the Brighton boss said of the Galway native, as reported by the Brighton & Hove Independent.
Connolly has made 17 Premier League appearances so far this season, marking his first start last October by scoring twice in a 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
His form is likely to be monitored closely by Stephen Kenny. The new Ireland manager gave Connolly his U21 international debut before he graduated to the senior set-up, winning two caps under Mick McCarthy.
In addition to tomorrow’s clash with Arsenal, Brighton’s schedule for the rest of the campaign includes home fixtures against Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City.
Potter added: “He [Connolly] is looking good, he is looking fit and strong and sharp and I think he can definitely help us over nine matches.
“He is a young player and a sprinter so you have to be careful with his recovery times. I think he will be ready to help us, that’s for sure.”
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BBC – Thierry Henry, Fabregas and Alan Shearer -an absolute snooze fest
@Ronan O Connor: Fr. Stone had also been lined up for the knockout stages!
@T Dawg: Fr Stone. Blast from the past. Lol.
Can’t wait for Roy Keane to sow it into England after they go out in the quarter finals
@Eoin Fitzgerald: i preferred it the first 5 times he did it. His rants can be funny but he’s poor pundit in my opinion, Little tactical insight, overly negative and its obvious he doesn’t do much research. On the flipside Neville’s forensic analysis of everything to the enth degree can get a bit old too. There’s a great interview with Brian Clough about pundits from the 80′s and robbing people of their ability to form their own insights and opinions about the game. I’m beginning to agree with him more and more as time goes on. Most of them are at best boring, at worst infuriating, and very few justify not going out to make the tae at half time.
@Fred spins kdb: I get the impression that there is no such thing a good pundit for you. If they’re analytic that’s not good. If they speak their mind, that’s not good either. I must say I like roy Keane as a pundit. I actually enjoy listening to what he has to say. Speaks the truth whether people like it or not.
@Eoin Fitzgerald: maybe you are right. I think Carragher is good.Neville is way too preachy and believing of his own hype these days for me. I get the sense he believes he is the man who single handedly took down to the super league, as if working for sky sports is no way connected to gouging money from the everyday football fan. I think Roy can be a good listen to at times, but he doesn’t have much to offer in terms of genuine insight, he kind of lost me with his ‘everyone who can trap the ball is an international these days’. Tearing the back off players becomes kind of less edgy and more boring and predictable if you are doing it all time.
@Eoin Fitzgerald: think Brian Kerr is good aswell. Unreal knowledge and engaging speaker.
I’m guessing RTE still has all the euro games yeah?? Even though we didn’t qualify
@Aidan: Yeah they do with Richie Sadlier, Kevin Doyle and Damien Duff.
@Eoin Fitzgerald: what a bore ! ITV for me
@Gary O: RTE panel hasn’t been the same since Liam, Johnny and Dunphy left (Didi too, hopefully he can back after pandemic)
@Eoin Fitzgerald: agreed 100%