Chelsea welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to Stamford Bridge in a festive midweek Premier League clash.
Victory will see Chelsea climb to second, whereas Brighton can go eighth with a win.
Team News
Kai Havertz and Timo Werner could return for Chelsea after recovering from recent positive cases of Coronavirus.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (knock), N’Golo Kante (knee) and Thiago Silva (hamstring) are doubts but Ben Chilwell (knee) remains absent.
Brighton could be without Leandro Trossard after the Belgian suffered a hamstring issue in Sunday’s win over Brentford.
Yves Bissouma is available after serving an one match ban on Boxing Day but Joel Veltman (thigh) and Shane Duffy (illness) are doubts.
Jason Steele, Jurgen Locadia (both Coronavirus), Jeremy Sarmiento (hamstring) and Lewis Dunk (knee) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Chelsea are unbeaten in eight previous Premier League meetings against Brighton (W6, D2).
- Brighton are winless in four previous Premier League trips to Stamford Bridge (D1, L3).
- Chelsea are yet to concede at home against Brighton in all competitions (W6, D1), whilst scoring 14 goals in total across seven home clashes against the Seagulls.
- 13 of Chelsea’s 42 league goals have been scored by the midfield pair of Mason Mount (7) and Jorginho (6), who are the Blues’ current two highest league scorers this season.
- Leandro Trossard has played more minutes than any other Brighton player in the Premier League this season, having played 1,452 minutes in 17 appearances.
Prediction
With several players back from Coronavirus outbreaks, Chelsea looked back to their best on Boxing Day at Aston Villa with front-footed attacking intent and controlled possession, which paid off with great pace in their runs after conceding a careless opener.
Brighton meanwhile were lucky to not concede against Brentford in the opening minutes but grew into the match and were clinical in attack with selfless movement to allow teammates into play, whilst also defending stubbornly with fantastic saves from Robert Sanchez.
Graham Potter’s Seagulls though will need to be at their best here because with Kai Havertz and Timo Werner set to return, Chelsea are only going to get stronger after largely surviving a rocky few weeks and Stamford Bridge is Brighton’s hoodoo.
Prediction: Chelsea 2-0 Brighton
Result: Chelsea 1-1 Brighton