Not really. He clearly was injured pre season. Given that, if he was refusing to play, why not say he's injured again? Whatever you might think about the logic, I think the reason Hughton is giving is correct as you are unlikely to make it up
Big difference is we're short of defenders but not of midfielders. There seem to be a lot of people on here basically calling Chris Hughton a liar and questioning what he's been saying. It's sad the lack of trust they have in our manager