11/5Brighton (4-2-3-1): Bart Verbruggen; Tariq Lamptey; Adam Webster; Lewis Dunk; Igor Júlio; Pascal Groß; Billy Gilmour; Facundo Buonanotte; Julio Enciso; Simon Adingra; João Pedro;
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Đorđe Petrović; Malo Gusto; Trevoh Chalobah; Benoît Badiashile; Marc Cucurella; Moisés Caicedo; Conor Gallagher; Noni Madueke; Cole Palmer; Mykhaylo Mudryk; Nicolas Jackson;
On Wednesday night, Brighton welcomes Chelsea. Both teams are in the top half of the standings, but while the hosts are fighting to stay there, the visitors’ main goal is to qualify for the European tournaments next season. Earlier in the campaign, Chelsea won the meetings between them 3-2, and the Londoners’ better form makes them favourites in today’s encounter.
Brighton’s performance in the current year has been disappointing, especially in the last two months. The team lost quite easily in the matches against Arsenal and Manchester City at home, with a significant margin and even without scoring. It was interesting that the Seagulls were also defeated by 3-0 away against Bournemouth. And only a week later, Brighton had already presented the best of its capabilities. At home, Aston Villa was totally outplayed, although the success came only by 1:0. Over the weekend, the Seagulls also played another strong game away to Newcastle, and surprisingly for me, they didn’t lose – 1-1.
It’s not very often in the season that Chelsea is on a run of three wins in a row, be it in all competitions, not just in the league, which is the situation now. At the end of the season, the Blues play great football, and they indeed regret the wasted autumn that cost them a Top 4 battle. In the winning streak, Chelsea won the derbies at home to Tottenham (2-0) and West Ham (5-0). On Saturday, the Blues also recorded their first away win since February 12 against Nottingham at the City Ground.
During the season so far, both teams have won their points mainly at home, but with their current form, I expect Chelsea to win today. The Seagulls have only conceded three home defeats this season, but they were goalless against Arsenal and Manchester City just recently. I was definitely surprised by the team’s play against Aston Villa and Newcastle, where I expected losses. At the end of the season, however, Chelsea showed strong championship form, and I expect them to finish the campaign with five consecutive wins in the English Premier League.