A veteran Brighton and Hove Albion player has received a surprise call up to the England squad for the friendlies against Uruguay and Japan.
Jason Steele, 35, has been included in Thomas Tuchel’s squad with the prospect of him going to the World Cup as a training goalkeeper.
Albion’s reserve keeper has not started a Premier League match this season but has played two FA Cup matches and three games in the League Cup.
He is expected to take his usual place in the Seagulls squad on the bench tomorrow (Saturday 21 March) when Albion host Liverpool in the lunchtime match, which is due to kick off at 12.30pm.
Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler wants his side to make life as uncomfortable as possible for the Reds who will be without Mo Salah.
Hürzeler has called for his players to show intensity on and off the field when they welcome the current Premier League champions to the Amex.
Liverpool sealed a Champions League quarter-final spot with a 4-0 rout of Galatasaray in midweek at Anfield, having been booed off there after drawing with struggling Tottenham Hotspur in their last league game.
They have faltered in the defence of their domestic crown and sit fifth in the table.
Hürzeler said: “When Liverpool get into a flow they are dangerous for every team. It’s our responsibility to not let them get into a flow. We need to be prepared. We need to be intense.
“We should create a place where no one wants to come. The supporters should be as loud as possible, be behind us, be pushing, be creating an energy. That will help our intensity and performance.”
Hürzeler, who will welcome back Kaoru Mitoma from injury, admitted that he had some sympathy for Reds boss Arne Slot.
He said: “Football sometimes is not fair. He won the Premier League. He’s doing an incredible job. He’s having a really good style of football. He’s trying to develop the players.
“He always finds good solutions. You sometimes feel for your colleague. I went through a tough period so I can imagine how tough it is for him but I’m 100 per cent certain he’ll find a way out of it.”
