Mark O’Mahony has been told he can be the “new Evan Ferguson” as he prepares for more Premier League minutes.

But Roberto De Zerbi has highlighted the differences between his two young Irish strikers.

De Zerbi dropped a strong hint that O’Mahony can add to his two outings so far off the bench when Albion go to Bournemouth.

Ferguson has been ruled out for the closing weeks of the campaign by injury but O’Mahony has come on in games against Burnley after a prolific season with the under-21s.

De Zerbi is intent on giving young players some valuable experience in the coming weeks.

Ferguson scored at Bournemouth last season and Albion would love to see O'Mahony follow suit.

De Zerbi said: “I think he can be the new Evan Ferguson because he seems a lot like Evan.

“Maybe Evan has a different shot but Mark is better in terms of possession, he understands the play better.

“We will see, I want to give them the chance to play for sure . We need fresh energy and maybe we can pay something in experience.

“We need energy because I don’t change the style of the team, and we are going to play with the same courage and mentality.

“We try to prepare with our best strategy in the next game but I don’t lose one centimetre of our mentality and bravery, for sure."

Odel Offiah, who went on half-time on Thursday, is another in contention for minutes at the Vitality Stadium.

Albion will also assess Valentin Barco after his demanding 90 minutes against the champions with a view to giving hm another chance to impress.

De Zerbi said: "Valentin Barco, I think he played a very good game. He made two mistakes but it's my responsibility.

“Carlos Baleba is playing very well. I think against City he didn’t play one of the best games in his time at Brighton but it is tough playing against Rodri, Kovacic, Foden, Bernardo especially in that position, especially against the best possession team in the world.

“Odel Offiah, first ten minutes not so good, but 35 minutes he played very well.”