Would Aston Villa take up their £40m option to buy Marcus Rashford? “We don’t want to waste time speaking about it,” the manager replied. And yet he had also outlined the various scenarios that alter the equation.

There are plenty of key players missing for Brighton which makes their recent resurgence even more impressive. The Seagulls will start Joao Pedro up top with Mitoma and Minteh likely to start out wide, although Rutter did come off with an injury at the weekend. That could mean Welbeck keeps his spot with Joao Pedro playing just behind him.