Chelsea are back to the Premier League race again after Saturday’s cup success. The Blues will be hosting Brighton today at Stamford bridge, here is the run-down of the major facts and figures you need, ahead.
Chelsea vs Brighton head to head
Chelsea and Brighton meet for only for the 12th occasion in the league, eighth in the top flight and 16th overall.
Among sides they have faced in English league football, Chelsea are the only team Brighton have failed to beat. We have won 10 and drawn one of our previous 11 league encounters.
We have won and kept clean sheets in all of our six matches against Brighton at the Bridge (five league, one FA Cup), scoring 14 goals.
Chelsea won the reverse fixture at the Amex on the opening day of the season 3-1 with goals from Jorginho (pen), Reece James and Kurt Zouma.
Chelsea stats
Only Manchester City (23) have conceded fewer Premier League goals this season than Chelsea (31).
Thomas Tuchel’s side have kept 14 clean sheets in our last 19 matches in all competitions.
Only Man City (17) have kept more Premier League clean sheets than Chelsea (15).
Chelsea are hoping to avoid consecutive home league defeats for the first time since December 2019 when we lost to Bournemouth and Southampton without scoring a goal.
Chelsea’s next penalty in the Premier League will be our 150th awarded to us in the competition.
Forty-seven of Chelsea’s 50 Premier League goals this season have been scored from inside the area. One of the three from outside the box was scored by Reece James in the reverse fixture at the Amex in September. The others were Mason Mount at West Brom in the same month and Hakim Ziyech at Burnley in October.
Brighton stats
This season’s Premier League stats (31 games)
Most appearances: White 30, Bissouma 29, Maupay 29
Most goals: Maupay 8, Dunk 4, Trossard 4, Welbeck 4
Most assists: Gross 6, Trossard 5, Maupay 2
Most clean sheets: Sanchez 8
Graham Potter’s side are 16th with 33 points from their 31 games, six points above the drop zone.
No Premier League side has dropped more points from winning positions this season than Brighton (20, level with Tottenham).
The Seagulls have a better away record than at home this season, winning 19 points from 15 games on the road compared to 14 from 16 at the Amex.
Only Manchester United (six) have drawn more Premier League matches 0-0 than Brighton (five) this season. Since winning promotion in 2017, the Seagulls have drawn more Premier League games 0-0 than any other side (16).
Brighton have kept 10 clean sheets in the Premier League this season, with seven of those coming since the turn of the year.
Since the Seagulls won at Arsenal in December 2019, they have failed to win any of their past seven Premier League games in London. They have drawn five of those and lost two, both at Tottenham.
Brighton have won three of their last six Premier League away games, having won just two of their first nine on the road this season.
Chelsea Vs Brighton Matchday Preview | injury update
There are no serious injury to report aside Mateo Kovacic who is still not fit to make a comeback into the starting lineup after missing out on Chelsea previous game against Manchester City in the Emirates FA Cup.
One good news on Andreas Christensen, who has missed the past three matches with a muscle injury will be making his way back into the team but might likely not start the game.
See What Thomas Tuchel Had To Say Chelsea Vs Brighton Matchday Preview;
‘I expect Andreas to be back and to be available,’ said Tuchel. ‘He did a very good training session yesterday and I hope this will continue today.
‘With Thiago it’s a bit different, not because of injury but maybe because of acute overload after his injury with the two games. He’s not injured but we have to see if it makes sense that he starts again.
‘I think and I hope that it’s only Kova we have out with injury.’
Chelsea Vs Brighton Matchday Preview | Lineup And Formation(3-4-2-1)
After the amazing performance from the players against Manchester City, Thoma Tuchel will be having it hard to choose who takes over the goal post after Kepa Arrizabalaga last performance which was superb.
Edouard Mendy (Goalkeeper); Cesar Azpilicueta, Kurt Zouma, Antonio Rudiger (Defenders); Callum Hudson-Odoi, NGolo Kante, Jorginho, Marcos Alonso (Midfielders); Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner (Attackers); Tammy Abraham (Striker).
These are the expected lineup to start the game unless the manager feels like making a late call which could see some players making their way to the bench due to injury or match fitness issues which is very common (Chelsea Vs Brighton Matchday Preview).
Kick-off time?
The game is scheduled to kick off during the night time as it will be the only English Premier League match taking place in today following Chelsea FA Cup game during the weekend.
20:00 UK while 8:00 PM Nigerian Time.
Based on the two team statistics, here is the correct score betting tips
This game won’t be an easy call despite the Blues having all the upper hand when it comes to head to head as they have won four out of the last five Premier League encounters.
Brighton And Hove Albion is also a team that can pull surprises when they play against big teams as they did beat Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield earlier this season.
Chelsea 4-0 Brighton And Hove Albion
Chelsea 2-0 Brighton And Hove Albion
Chelsea 0-0 Brighton And Hove Albion
