Colin Todd has already named his City side to face Brighton - and Eddie Johnson is in it.

The striker returned to training yesterday after a bruised instep forced him to miss the Blackpool debacle.

And he has been guaranteed a starting spot at the weekend, even if David Graham recovers sufficiently from the back problem which flared up before last Saturday's match.

Graham has been to see a chiropractor and is struggling to make the Seagulls clash at Valley Parade. Youngster Ben Parker is also likely to miss out after damaging his hamstring.

Todd took the unusual step of telling his players the team four days before the match.

"We've done some work on the side so everyone knows where they stand," he said.

"I've given the boys the benefit of the doubt so they can focus and get their minds on the game early.

"There's obviously going to be changes at full back and up front but everything else is the same. It's still a very strong side and I expect the proper response.

"October has been a bad month for us but now it's all about trying to pull together to win our next game of football. We've worked hard in training on certain patterns of play because I don't think we've been working hard enough for each other.

"Eddie's injury was not connected to his old one with the ankle. He picked up a bit of bruising on the instep but he's fine now and trained well with us. He's been told that he will play and I'm looking for positive things from him."

  • Joe Brown has lost his appeal against his Blackpool red card and will now miss the next three games.