Brighton will welcome Chelsea to the Amex for Friday night football in a return of the premier league weekend.
Brighton & Hove Albion look to maintain their resurrection in form after their thrashing to Nottingham Forest when they welcome Chelsea for the second time in the last week. The Seagulls secured a 2-1 win in the FA Cup fourth round as they turned around a losing position within the opening five minutes to then thanks to goals from Georginio Rutter and Kaoru Mitoma.
Brighton vs Chelsea Head-to-Head
- This will be the 26th meeting between the two sides. Chelsea lead 16-4 while five games were drawn.
- Brighton are the only Premier League side yet to score in the first 20 minutes of a home league game this term.
- Chelsea are winless in five away games across competitions since mid-December (three losses).
- Brighton’s 7-0 thrashing away to Nottingham was their heaviest league defeat since 1958.
- Chelsea’s last six games across competitions have produced three goals or more, with the last five witnessing goals at both ends.
- Chelsea have conceded nine goals in their last five games.
The two sides met last weekend in the FA Cup when goals from Georginio Rutter and Kaoru Mitoma earned the home side a 2-1 win and a trip to Newcastle United in the fifth round.
That victory was quite a turnaround for Fabian Hürzeler’s side who were beaten 7-0 by Nottingham Forest in their last league outing, a game to forget for everyone of a Brighton persuasion.
The Seagulls sit 10th in the league, nine points behind Friday’s opponents with just two wins from their last 12 matches.
Chelsea have won just two of their last eight league matches, to slip from three points behind the leaders Liverpool to 14 points off the pace in fourth place.
A home defeat to Fulham on Boxing Day came as a shock to the side, who had won five of their previous six matches, and they followed it with a 2-0 home defeat at Ipswich who secured only their third league win of the season.
Chelsea completed the double last season when a 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge was followed by a 2-1 victory at the Amex Stadium where Cole Palmer and Christopher Nkunku were on target before Reece James was sent off and Danny Welbeck pulled one back for the home side.
The Blues have actually lost just one of their seven away games against Brighton, in the league, going down 4-1 in October 2022 and despite defeat less than a week ago, they will fancy their chances of making it a fourth league win in a row.
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Palmer to punish Brighton again
Cole Palmer scored all four goals in the 4-2 win earlier in the season and has 14 goals in 27 games so far.
He also scored the opening goal the Amex last season and betting sides are offering 5/1 on him scoring first and last or 29/20 to score at any time.
You can even get 45/1 on him scoring a hat-trick or 15/2 to score two or more.
Since joining Chelsea in September 2023, Palmer has scored more than once on seven different occasions, and four twice, against the Seagulls and Everton in a 6-0 win last season.
