Chelsea vs Brighton Preview: The Blues Aiming For A Fourth Consecutive Victory
An in-form Chelsea host the unbeaten Seagulls in a mouthwatering clash at the Bridge on Saturday.
After a shoddy pre-season and opening weekend defeat to the champions, Enzo Maresca’s Blues have rattled off a four-game unbeaten run to sit fifth in the league table through five games.
Chelsea’s confident start to the campaign continued with a 3-0 beatdown of West Ham last week and 5-0 thumping of Barrow in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.
Brighton progressed into the fourth round of the aforementioned competition the week prior as they beat Wolves 3-2. The Seagulls are no strangers to fast Premier League starts, but Fabian Hurzeler will know that his side have to be at their very best to maintain their unbeaten opening to the new season this weekend.
Hurzeler’s side were held by counter-attacking specialists Nottingham Forest at the Amex last weekend.
CHELSEA TEAM NEWS: GUSTO & LAVIA RETURN
Former Manchester City and Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia has returned to full fitness and the Belgium midfielder is expected to be involved this weekend but a start is likelier to come in the UEFA Europa Conference League next week.
They have just one first-team injury issue with that being club captain Reece James and his return, as ever, is still unpredictable. Malo Gusto has returned to full fitness and played in midweek against Barrow
Gusto played 45 minutes in midweek / Gaspafotos/MB Media/GettyImages
BRIGHTON TEAM NEWS: JOAO PEDRO STILL OUT
As he was seemingly returning from injury, Brighton boss Hurzeler has confirmed that Joao Pedro will once again be unavailable for this one and he is unsure how long the Brazilian forward will be sidelined for.
As well as the former Watford man, Matt O’Riley remains injured with fellow new signing Brajan Gruda a doubt, whilst both James Milner and Solly March are out injured.
Pedro will miss Saturday’s game / Steve Bardens/GettyImages
Chelsea welcome a Brighton and Hove Albion side that may be a little concerned about their performances against Ipswich and Forest, albeit the Seagulls were probably the better side against the latter and definitely the better side against the former. A defeat, though, does feel around the corner and now they travel to a Chelsea side that look genuinely good and consistent for the first time in a while so a home win would still appear a good bet for this one.
Credit: 90Mins/TheStatsZone