Albion stepped things up again in their third pre-season friendly.

From half a game versus Union St-Gilloise, increased to an hour at Estoril, several players had 70 minutes at Reading.

That, of course, also meant some were limited to just 20 minutes – or none at all.

Seagulls fans who were present for the first time this summer, and those watching via live online stream, will wonder whether a clear picture of how their team will start the Premier League season is starting to emerge.

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag might be wondering the same thing.

Nine players had 70 minutes in Berkshire and the two who went off at half-time both stand a big chance of starting in the league.

That said, so do the two who replaced them.

Graham Potter again went with what might be termed a 3-4-3 or even 3-4-2-1 set-up.

Robert Sanchez was protected by a three of Joel Veltman, Lewis Dunk and Marc Cucurella.

Tariq Lamptey started as right wing-back with Solly March his counterpart on the left.

Both wing-backs played a huge role in the opening goal, headed home by Pascal Gross.

Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister again teamed up in deeper-lying midfield roles.

They had Gross and Leandro Trossard ahead of them while Danny Welbeck led the attack.

Lamptey and Veltman went off at half-time.

Adam Webster replaced the Dutchman on the right of the three.

Enock Mwepu’s introduction for his first action of pre-season led to March switching to the right and Trossard reverting to left wing-back.

Then came the main batch of substitutions.

Albion completed the game with Jason Steele in goal and a three of Webster, Shane Duffy and Matt Clarke.

Julio Enciso and Kaoru Mitoma operated on right and left flanks respectively.

Adam Lallana and Steven Alzate went on together in midfield.

Mwepu, of course, remained on the pitch and supported a front two of Neal Maupay and Deniz Undav.

Jeremy Sarmiento, Evan Ferguson, Jean Paul van Hecke and young goalkeeper Tom McGill remained as unused substitutes.

Albion play Brentford on Tuesday behind closed doors.

Potter said: "We can build the minutes up for the guys who didn't play today.

"All in all, it has been another step forwards for us."