28 October 2023 , 11:42
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Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi has praised 'special player' Ansu Fati and insists the on-loan Barcelona youngster can only get better.
Fati has scored two goals in as many appearances for the Seagulls, including in the 2-0 win over Ajax in the Europa League at the Amex Stadium on Thursday night. The 20-year-old came off the bench to score in the defeat at Manchester City last weekend and could be up for his first Premier League start against Fulham on Sunday.
De Zerbi is confident about Fati's potential and told reporters: "He played very well (against Ajax), but he can improve and get better. Ansu's focus should be to enjoy football and find the same enthusiasm he had in the first part of his career. Physically as well I think he can improve."
He added: "He is a special player, so is Joao Pedro as well. They are playing at 60 percent of their potential. I think they can push again and we are helping them because if they reach their best, we will win more games."
Given the addition of Europa League football to Brighton's schedule this season, De Zerbi will be forced to rotate his players more often, but revealed: "This season with playing so many games per week, we have to change, but Joao Pedro and Ansu Fati are inside of our ideal first XI.
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"They can become stronger when they have (the chance) to score in the final third, but working with young players, you have to work harder to improve them because after their improvement, then the team will improve also."
De Zerbi will hope there is no European hangover as his side welcome the visit of Fulham on Sunday. The Cottagers were beaten by league leaders Tottenham on Monday night and their indifferent form currently leaves them in the bottom half of the table.
But De Zerbi does not feel Brighton's opponents should be underestimated despite some key departures in personnel. "Fulham lost (Aleksandar) Mitrovic and also (Manor) Solomon, but they are still a good team," De Zerbi said.
"Raul Jimenez is a great player, (Andreas) Pereira as well, Willian, (Antonee) Robinson and (Timothy) Castagne so they are a very good team with a very good coach who I respect a lot. But we are focused on ourselves and what we have to do to win the game, to show the quality of our players."
To do that, De Zerbi knows Brighton cannot afford any more wayward defending like they did when trashed 6-1 at Aston Villa last month. "Our focus is to score a lot of goals, but another target is to make clean sheets and not concede so many goals like in the past," he said.
"We hate it when we concede a goal, especially if it is in a bad way. In this part of the season, we have conceded too many goals in a bad way."
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