Chelsea vs Brighton & Hove Albion
Date: 03/04/2019
K/O: 19:45
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Referee: Graham Scott
Fresh from a last minute victory against a battling Cardiff team, Chelsea play host on Wednesday night to Chris Hughton’s Brighton.
The away side are coming in off the back of a 1-0 loss against Southampton, a game which was tiring for the viewer let alone the players. Hughton has said that it would be “a hard slog until the end of the season”, and Chelsea are not going to make it easier for them as they visit Stamford Bridge.
The Blues came within ten minutes of being handed a sixth away defeat in seven against Cardiff at the weekend – only an offside Azpilicueta equalizer and a last-minute Loftus-Cheek winner saved the Blues. Sarri will have heard the fans calling for his head and the combination of still refusing to play Hudson-Odoi, despite hinting he could receive a start this week, plus a loss against Brighton this Wednesday will do nothing to help his cause.
Brighton meanwhile are lingering five points above the relegation zone and are in a tight scrap with at least five other teams to avoid the drop. The South Coast team narrowly lost to Southampton at the weekend, but they are in a position in which they will need to pick up every point possible over the last eight games.
Team News
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton will be without Pascal Gross due to a hamstring injury however both Florin Andone and Davy Propper look like they may well be fully fit to play. Chris Hughton has spoken about being consistent in his defensive selection however with Brighton having three games in one week, including an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City, this policy may be likely to alteration.
Bissouma seems likely to come in for Gross in the midfield alongside Stephens and Propper. For the strike force, Murray is first choice, but they may bring in Andone to allow Murray to be fit for the semi-final at the weekend. The same may apply to the players out wide with March and Knockaert usually first choice but perhaps Locadia or Izquierdo will be given a run out instead.
Chelsea
Chelsea will have some tired legs amongst their ranks and maybe, just maybe, this could lead to Sarri finally giving Hudson-Odoi his first ever Premier League start. The Englishman was left on the bench again against Cardiff and with Chelsea’ attack being utterly toothless it seems like now is a good time to give him a start.
Chelsea’s defence has remained solid on the whole this season and the only meddling could be possibly with Ampadu coming in to give one of the two regular centre backs a rest, or one of the fullbacks making way for either Zappacosta or Emerson.
Kante and Hazard were rested at the weekend but it makes sense for both to re-appear in the starting line up on Wednesday night.
Attack has been Chelsea’s weak point recently with goals drying up from both Hazard and Higuaín and no-one being ready-made to replace them. Perhaps seeing Tammy Abraham continually scoring for Aston Villa is making Chelsea realise what they may have missed with both him and Batshuayi performing whilst out on loan.
Predicted Starting XIs
Chelsea (4-3-3): Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso; Kante, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek; Hudson-Odoi, Higuain, Hazard
Brighton (4-3-1-2): Ryan: Montoya, Duffy, Dunk, Bernando; Bissouma, Stephens, Propper; Solly March; Murray, Knockaert
Score Prediction: Chelsea 2 Brighton 0
Chelsea may struggle in this game but they will get the job done this Wednesday. They know that their push for the top four needs a bit of momentum behind it and with Brighton perhaps having one eye on the cup semi-final this may well be their best chance.
