The Ben White and Adam Lallana injury update Brighton fans wanted to hear ahead of Portsmouth and Newcastle

Adam Lallana and Ben White were both forced off the pitch during a bruising home clash against Chelsea last Monday as Brighton opened their 2020/21 Premier League campaign with a 3-1 defeat.

Lallana, 32, hobbled off the pitch on 45 minutes with severe cramping in his calf, while White, who performed well on his Premier League debut, injured his ankle in the second half as he made an important sliding tackle on Chelsea striker Timo Werner.

Both players will not feature in the Carabao Cup on Thursday but Potter said their injuries were not as bad as first feared and refused to rule either player out of Sunday's Premier League clash at Newcastle.

"It's good news," said Potter. "Adam is okay and not as bad as we thought. He took a few heavy contacts in the Chelsea game and it was more that type of injury rather than anything muscular, which is good for us.

"He will probably be training towards the back end of the week. We will take some time with that ahead of Newcastle but he certainly will not be involved tomorrow.

"Ben has responded really well and making good progress. We will aim to get him training towards the back end of the week as well. So in that regard it is quite positive on that front."

There will however be a chance tomorrow for Dutch international Davy Propper to have his first competitive run-out of the season.

Propper has been struggling with an Achilles and the match against Portsmouth will offer an ideal chance for the key midfielder to test his fitness ahead of Newcastle.

"Davy is in the squad," Potter said. "He will be involved tomorrow. He needed a bit more time for Chelsea and that game arrived to soon but I'm hoping he can play a big part tomorrow.

"It is a chance to get time on the pitch and increase that competition for places internally."

The Albion head coach has huge respect for a Portsmouth team and their manager Kenny Jacket who started their League One Campaign last Saturday with a 0-0 home draw against Shrewsbury.

They advanced to the second round of the Carabao Cup thanks to a thrilling penalty shootout victory over Stevenage last month after it ended 3-3 at full time.

"It'll be a tough game," Potter said. "We played them in pre-season and I have a lot of respect for Kenny. He has fantastic experience as a manager, across all the divisions.

"His teams are well-organised, hard to beat and attack in a clear way. It will be a difficult game against a team fighting for the next round."

Many of the established Albion first team squad will likely feature against Portsmouth, such as Joel Veltman, Dan Burn, Bernardo, Dale Stephens, Propper, Jayson Molumby, Pascal Gross, Alexis Mac Allister and Ali Jahanbakhsh.

Last season Potter used the Carabao Cup as opportunity to provide first team experience for many of his younger players.

Under-23 players Max Sanders, Haydon Roberts, Alex Cochrane, Romaric Yapi, Peter Gwargis and Viktor Gyökeres have all been training with the first team squad and could all get minutes against Porstmouth.

Predicted Brighton line-up: Steele, Veltman, Roberts, Burn, Bernardo; Mac Allister, Stephens, Propper, Molumby, Jahanbakhsh, Gyökeres

Subs: Gross, Cochrane, Yapi, Gwargis, Sanchez