Chelsea v Brighton- Preview, Predictions, and Best Bets

Chelsea faces Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday at Stamford Bridge. The Blues have lost their two matches under interim coach Frank Lampard and may have at least one eye on their upcoming Champions League match. Brighton lost to Spurs last time out after a number of questionable refereeing calls and will want to get back to winning ways as they chase European football for next season.

Chelsea Form

This season has been a disaster for Chelsea. They’ve only scored 16 times in 15 matches in the league at Stamford Bridge and they’ve won just four of their last 19 matches in all competitions. They’ve failed to score in 14 of their last 23 fixtures, too. The axe fell out coach Graham Potter after just four wins in 14 matches.

After three successive wins under Potter including 2-0 at home to Dortmund to progress in the Champions League, they could only draw 2-2 at home to Everton and lose 2-0 at home to Aston Villa. He was sacked after that, ending a dire spell in charge. A 0-0 draw with caretaker coach Bruno followed. Frank Lampard arrived two days before Wolves away and lost 1-0 before overseeing a 2-0 defeat away to Real Madrid in midweek with ten men.

Chelsea Team News

Interim coach Frank Lampard looks set to heavily rotate his starting XI. With a second-leg tie vs Real Madrid on Tuesday, it is unlikely we will see any of Thiago Silva, N’Golo Kante, or Wesley Fofana in this match. Trevoh Chalobah and Benoit Badiashile could play in defence whilst Ben Chilwell should start due to suspension on Tuesday.

There could be starts for Kai Havertz and Mykhailo Mudryk in attack whilst Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher could feature in midfield. There may also be a return in goal after injury for Edouard Mendy.

Chelsea Motivation

The Blues looked distracted away at Wolves last time out with the Real Madrid game on the horizon. That will certainly apply to this match ahead of the second leg.

Lampard would love to get a win and build some momentum but he will largely want to avoid injuries and fatigue. Any sort of burgled victory would be welcomed.

Brighton Form

Brighton sit seventh in the table in a fine season so far. Their matches have produced 88 goals (52 scored, 36 conceded), a full 28 more than Chelsea. On the road, the Seagulls have the fourth-best away record and prior to losing 2-1 at Tottenham last weekend, it was four wins and three draws in seven on their league travels.

In fact, prior to going to Spurs, they had only been beaten once in 15 in all competitions (with 36 goals scored), a shock 1-0 home defeat to Fulham. Since that loss, they’ve beaten West Ham 4-0 in the league but also conceded a damaging equaliser to draw 2-2 at Leeds. After coming from behind on three occasions in a 3-3 home draw with Brentford, they won 2-0 at Bournemouth. The Spurs defeat saw them robbed of a penalty ahead of an official apology from the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL).

Brighton Team News

Roberto De Zerbi will be without centre-back Levi Colwill, who is ineligible to face his parent club. Adam Lallana and Jakub Moder are injured in midfield and Tariq Lamptey is a major doubt at right back. Joel Veltman and Adam Webster should both start in the defence.

Teenager striker Evan Ferguson has four goals in 562 minutes of league action and could be recalled to the starting XI in preference to Danny Welbeck. Pascal Gross is set to play deeper once again with Alexis Mac Allister as a number ten.

Brighton Motivation

The Seagulls will take the game to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. They will look to dominate possession, attack constantly, and will play for all three points.

A draw would not be a bad result but De Zerbi doesn’t settle for one-point hauls and he will see the Blues as being ‘there for the taking’.

Key Stats

CFC have failed to score in 14 of their last 23 matches (all comps)

CFC have scored 2 goals in a match just 4 times in their last 23 fixtures

Chelsea have won once in 6 PL matches at Stamford Bridge

Brighton have won 4 of their last 8 away PL matches (3 draws, 1 loss)

Brighton have seen Both Teams Scoring in 8 of their last 9 away matches (EPL)

Brighton’s last 9 away EPL matches have seen 33 goals scored (19 scored, 14 conceded)

Verdict

With the awful form of Chelsea right now and Brighton’s excellent away record, this is ripe for a Seagulls win. If the Blues rotate most of their XI, as expected, it isn’t easy to see them winning this fixture. We should see plenty of goals with Brighton leaking a fair amount on their travels.

Best Bet: Both Teams to Score at 1.64
Alternative Bet: Over 2.5 goals at 1.90
Alternative Bet: Both Teams to Score + Over 2.5 goals at 2.25
Value Bet: Brighton win at 2.65

James O'Connor

James is a football analyst who writes about the tactics of the PSL and English Premier League. He holds the UEFA A coaching licence and has previously worked for several clubs in analysis roles.Twitter: https://twitter.com/footy_analysis