Brighton striker Aaron Connolly hopes to face Chelsea this weekend.

The striker was taken off an hour into Albion's Carabao Cup defeat by Aston Villa, despite being his side's biggest goal threat.

That suggests he is being protected ahead of the Premier League trip to Stamford Bridge. Connolly has been a regular on the bench for the first team in recent weeks.

He told The Argus: “At half-time Billy (Reid, assistant head coach) said, 'Ten or 15 more minutes because we have got Saturday's game and we have a couple of injuries'.

“I'm taking it as a compliment instead of an insult to come off.

“I am just glad I got 60 under my belt because I haven't played since Bristol Rovers. I haven't started a game for a while so I was glad to get 60 in and hopefully get a couple more on Saturday."