Hull City manager Steve Bruce is hopeful of having key man Chuba Akpom available for this weekend's clash with Brighton & Hove Albion.

The on-loan Arsenal young gun withdrew from the England Under-21 squad due to injury, leaving his participation for this weekend's Championship clash against Brighton is in doubt.

Bruce has touched on Akpom's knee problem and has stated that the club will be closely monitoring the striker's progress over the next 72 hours to determine his fitness.

Bruce said: "He's had a little bit of tendonitis on his knee, which caused him to miss the Rochdale game in the cup. We have to be careful with it. He's had it a little while now so we don't want to aggravate it.

"It was in everyone's best interests not to go away with England in the end. This was the ideal time to let it settle down. It's going to be a big test for him in the next couple of weeks but we'll just have to keep a close eye on him."