Chelsea will be aiming to return to winning ways on Sunday evening when they host Brighton and Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side were hammered 4-1 at St. James’ Park by Newcastle last weekend. This loss ended Chelsea’s mini revival which consisted of a three-game unbeaten run against Blackburn Rovers, Tottenham and Manchester City.
Facing Chelsea on Sunday will be Brighton who have blow hot and cold this season to sit eight on the Premier League log.
Last weekend, they clinged on to defeat Nottingham Forest 3-2 at the City Grounds to secure just their first victory in seven league games.
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Heading into the weekend, Chelsea are 12 points adrift of the UEFA Champions League qualification spots after going winless in their last two games. Their thrashing at Newcastle followed a 4-4 draw with Man City, having dispatched Tottenham 4-1 before that in a chaotic encounter.
Indeed, Chelsea have lost five of their 13 Premier League games this season following defeats to West Ham, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Brentford and Newcastle. This is only the second time in their last 28 campaigns they have lost as many at this stage, along with 2015-16 (seven).
Brighton were winless in six league outings, losing to Aston Villa and Man City alongside draws against Liverpool, Fulham, Everton and Sheffield United, before victory over Forest.
They are one of only four sides yet to keep a Premier League clean sheet this season. However, they have also scored in every game this term and could become just the sixth top-flight team ever to score and concede in their first 14 matches in a season, and first since Wolves back in 1934-35.
Brighton head into this match following a 1-0 victory away at AEK Athens in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday evening thanks to another Joao Pedro penalty – his sixth scored (of six taken) of 2023-24 so far, which is more than any other Premier League player.
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For this game, Pochettino will be without a couple of players including club captain Reece James, who was sent off last weekend in the Newcastle defeat.
Marc Cucurella is also suspended for this game after racking up five yellow cards across the season so far.
Malo Gusto, Ben Chilwell, Trevor Chalobah, Wesley Fofana are out injured, while Christopher Nkunku and Romeo Lavia have just returned to team training and might not be risked for this game.
Their opponents on the day, Brighton also have similar fitness and suspension problems.
Lewis Dunk is on a two-match ban following his red card against Nottingham, while Pervis Estupinan, Solly March, Ansu Fati, Tariq Lamprey, Danny Welbeck and Julio Enciso are all long-term absentees with injuries.
Mahmoud Dahoud also remains suspended for his straight red card against Sheffield United a few weeks ago, but Kauro Mitoma will be back for this trip.
Match Facts
Chelsea will fancy their chances in this Premier League meeting, given Brighton have failed to score in eight of their last 10 visits to the Blues in all competitions.
That run includes this season’s 1-0 EFL Cup victory for Pochettino’s side, who were 1-0 winners in the third round thanks to Nicolas Jackson’s 50th-minute strike.
However, Chelsea are winless in their last five league outings against Brighton (D3 L2) after winning 10 of their 11 such meetings before that (D1). In fact, they were defeated in both Premier League clashes last season by Brighton, who thrashed Chelsea – then managed by former Seagulls boss Graham Potter – 4-1 at home before a 2-1 comeback victory at Stamford Bridge during Frank Lampard’s second tenure in charge.
Pochettino will be keen to improve on a poor recent record against Brighton, with Chelsea’s last league victory over the south-coast club a 3-1 win all the way back in September 2020.
Probable Line-ups
Chelsea: Sanchez, Disasi, Silva, Colwill, Badiashile, Caicedo, Enzo, Gallagher, Sterling, Palmer, Jackson
Brighton: Verbruggen; Veltman, Hinshelwood, Igor, Milner; Gilmour, Gross; Adingra, Pedro, Mitoma; Ferguson
