Brighton & Hove Albion host ex manager Graham Potter as he brings Chelsea to the AMEX Stadium.
Victory would see Brighton climb to seventh in the table, whilst Chelsea can go as high as third if Tottenham and Newcastle both fail to win elsewhere.
Team News
Joel Veltman is a doubt for Brighton with a calf injury suffered in last weekend’s defeat at Manchester City.
Adam Lallana (unspecified) is also doubtful but Karou Mitoma (ankle) and Jakub Moder (knee) remain absent.
Chelsea could be without Mateo Kovacic after the Croatian suffered a calf injury in their midweek Champions League win at Red Bull Salzburg.
Kalidou Koulibaly (knee) missed last two matches but is set to return whilst Reece James, Wesley Fofana (both knee) and N’Golo Kante (hamstring) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Brighton have drawn four of their last five meetings against Chelsea (D4, L1).
- Chelsea are unbeaten in five previous Premier League visits to Brighton (W3, D2).
- Brighton are yet to defeat Chelsea in 10 previous Premier League meetings (D4, L6).
- Brighton are looking to avoid going six consecutive league games without a win in 2022, having previously lost six straight matches between February-March.
- Marc Cucurella, Thiago Silva and Mason Mount have all produced the joint-highest number of assists for Chelsea in Premier League this season, having each produced two assists apiece.
Prediction
Although last weekend’s defeat at Man City was inveitable, Brighton should be proud of how they mounted a decent fight but they just weren’t clinical enough and often defensively caught high up the pitch.
Roberto De Zerbi and his Seagulls therefore need to take heart from the positives of last weekend’s effort and apply that here, where the playing squad will know how ex manager – Potter likes to play which could work to their advantage.
Chelsea meanwhile are still yet to lose under Potter since he departed the Seagulls for the Blues and showed excellent clinical resilience to beat Salzburg in midweek, despite having controlled the first-half but were able to weather immense second-half pressure to snatch a strong win.
Now if Brighton come flying out of the blocks with their usual gutsy attacking spirit, Chelsea know that they’ve enough quality to weather waves of pressure and take their chances when needed, although a part of me does feel that this could be a score draw.
Prediction: Brighton 1-1 Chelsea
Result: Brighton 4-1 Chelsea