Chelsea face Brighton at Stamford Bridge in a mid-table Premier League encounter.
Victory would see Chelsea return to 10th in the table, whilst Brighton can go seventh with a win.
Team News
Reece James is suspended for Chelsea after he was red carded in their defeat at Newcastle.
Malo Gusto (tendon) and Marc Cucurella (suspension) will miss this game but Romeo Lavia (ankle) and Christopher Nkunku (knee) could make their debuts – after extensive periods on the sidelines following their moves this summer.
Trevorh Chalobah, Ben Chilwell (both hamstring), Wesley Fofana (ACL) and Carney Chukwuemeka (knee) remain ruled out.
Brighton will be without Lewis Dunk after he was red carded for dissent during their 3-2 league win at Nottingham Forest.
Mahmoud Dahoud is also suspended as he serves the second of a domestic three-match ban.
Tariq Lamptey, Pervis Estupinan, Ansu Fati, Danny Welbeck (all muscle), Adam Webster (knock), Solly March and Julio Enciso (both knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Chelsea host Brighton at Stamford Bridge in a 2pm GMT kick-off on Sunday 3 December, ……… in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Chelsea are winless in six of their last seven league meetings against Brighton (W1, D4, L2).
- Brighton have won just one of their last seven league visits to Chelsea (W1, D2, L3).
- Two of the last four league meetings between Chelsea and Brighton have ended in a 1-1 result.
- Raheem Sterling has scored in three of Chelsea’s last four matches in all competitions.
- Two of Evan Ferguson’s 19 shots for Brighton in the Premier League this season have hit the woodwork.
Prediction
After a positive improvement in performance before the international break, Chelsea were just poor at Newcastle with awful defensive quality which was deservedly punished, whilst their attack lacked decisiveness in their end product composure.
Brighton meanwhile delivered a clinical win at AEK Athens to guarantee a knockout spot in the Europa Leaggue but as they return to domestic duty, they must now refocus without Dunk’s pivotal presence in defence because they have no domestic clean sheets this season.
Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls though must show more quality in their open-play end product than they managed in Athens, because Chelsea will be no pushovers especially if Nkunku starts given his strong quality up front in pre-season.
There however does lie defensive issues within both teams so a goalless draw feels unlikely but given Dunk’s absence, I just feel that Brighton might suffer slightly more than Chelsea will without James.
Prediction: Chelsea 1-0 Brighton