Fitness boost for Brighton striker in time for Crystal Palace showdown

Iran forward Jahanbakhsh (hamstring) has been sidelined since the FA Cup win against Newport last month and has missed the last nine matches.

Striker Danny Welbeck is also in contention to start having been used as a late substitute in the draws against Burnley and Aston Villa following his knee injury.

"Danny (Welbeck) has been training well," said Albion head coach Graham Potter. "So the only thing he has been lacking is game time. But we are building that up with training and he had a good session today (Thursday).

"The same with Ali, he just needed a bit more time coming back from his injury, but he will be available for the squad on Monday night.”

Adam Webster is unlikely to feature after sustaining an ankle injury in the recent draw at Burnley and fellow defender Tariq Lamptey, sidelined since December with a hamstring problem, is definitely out.

“No he (Lamptey) wont be available on Monday that will be too soon for him," said Potter.

"But he is making good progress though, we are hoping that he will back with the group and the weekend and be back in training next week.

“Adam (Webster) is looking unlikely for the game we are still assessing the damage to his ligaments. So it looks quite likely he will miss the game."

Florin Andone is working his way back from a serious knee injury and Solly March had knee surgery earlier this month.

José Izquierdo has not played in the first team for more than 18 months and continues his recovery from a knee injury. He was a surprise inclusion in the matchday squad for the 1-0 win against Tottenham but involvement against Palace remains unlikely.

"We had an internal match this morning and he played in that," said Potter on Thursday.

"He came through 60 minutes so that’s really positive. It’s probably the longest he has been on the pitch for a while so really good news."

Crystal Palace’s injury crisis has shown no signs of abating, with boss Roy Hodgson admitting two further players picked up a knock against Burnley at the weekend.

However, in a slight boost for the Eagles, James McCarthy returned to training on Thursday, having not featured since January 30.

Wilfried Zaha continues to struggle with the hamstring injury he sustained against Newcastle, and Hodgson would not be drawn on a return date for the talismanic forward.

Hodgson said: “He (Zaha) is still suffering from the injury, there’s no question of that and the doctors in particular and the physios are very anxious not to put dates on people so they would be very angry with me if I was to suggest dates for when he might return.

“But he’s working very hard to get back as soon as he can and he has got good powers of recovery so I’m hoping that the prognostic will be rather different to the actual timescale.”

The Eagles have slipped to 14th in the Premier League following defeats to Leeds and Burnley, going down 2-0 and 3-0 respectively.

Hodgson is hoping his side can repair some of the damage done by recent performances and give supporters something to cheer about when they go to rivals Brighton on Monday night.

“I think whatever team we were playing after the last two results where we’ve been below par, we’d have been anxious to show that we’re better than that and that we have more in our locker to show than in the last two games,” the 73-year-old said.

“So the fact that it’s Brighton adds the extra spice because it’s a game which is very important to our fans and everyone at the club is very much aware of that.

“It’s a good opportunity to get out there and show that the last couple of performances are not what our fans can expect from us.”

Brighton provisional squad: Sanchez, White, Burn, Veltman, Alzate, Dunk, Bissouma, Gross, Mac Allister, Trossard, Maupay, Welbeck, Lallana, Jahanbakhsh, Connolly, Karbownik, Moder, Tau, Zeqiri, Propper, Walton.

Crystal Palace provisional squad: Guaita, Clyne, Kouyate, Dann, Van Aanholt, Ayew, Milivojevic, Riedewald, Eze, Benteke, Batshuayi, Butland, Ward, Townsend, Mateta, Cahill, Mitchell, Kelly.