Brighton vs Chelsea Prediction and Betting Tips: High-Flying Seagulls Welcome Waning World Champions For A European Place Battle

The Blues are enduring their darkest stretch of the season. 

After 33 rounds, Liam Rosenior's squad sits in 6th place with 48 points. However, a streak of four consecutive Premier League losses, all without scoring, has effectively dashed their Champions League hopes. 

Saturday's defeat to Manchester United (0-1) at Stamford Bridge encapsulated their struggles. The Blues left the pitch goalless for the fourth straight time, edging closer to a century-old unwanted record. 

The last time things were worse was in 1912, when they suffered five consecutive scoreless defeats in the league. 

Adding to the frustration, Rosenior's side overwhelmed the Red Devils in shots (21-4) but conceded from United's only shot on target, while striking the woodwork three times themselves.

Brighton, for their part, head into their clash with the club world champions sitting 9th in the table with 47 points, just a single point away from the European competition spots. 

They are on a four-match unbeaten streak, and prior to their draw against Tottenham (2-2) in the last round, were on a three-match winning streak. 

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One of Chelsea’s crucial standout points has been their inability to find the back of the net lately. They’ve failed to score in five of the last six matches, which is quite uncharacteristic.

The Blues remain the most effective attacking team away from home in the division, having scored 30 goals across 16 away matches.

Meanwhile, Brighton are naturally efficient at the Amex Stadium, as they’ve netted 24 goals in 16 games at an average of 1.50 goals per game. They’ve scored in each of their last four outings regardless of the venue.

However, their back line hasn’t been great. The hosts have conceded at least one goal in each of their previous six home league matches. Additionally, four of the last five head-to-heads between Brighton and Chelsea have resulted in both teams scoring.

This is potentially the worst time for Chelsea to play against Brighton, who are on a run of four consecutive games without defeat. 

Hurzeler’s men are in excellent form, with only Arsenal and Manchester City winning more points across the last eight league games. They’ve only lost three out of 16 home matches this season.

Chelsea have been inconsistent away from home this term, losing five and drawing four of their 16 Premier League games. The Blues are winless across their last four league outings in a row. Furthermore, they lost five of their last six games across all competitions.

Brighton will take courage from that and enter this fixture confident that they can win. The Seagulls won both the reverse fixture this season and the corresponding fixture last term. 

That record forms part of three consecutive victories against Chelsea across all competitions, which suggests they should get something from this fixture.

Danny Welbeck was narrowly denied the opening goal against Tottenham last time out when he struck the goalpost in the first half.

The former Arsenal forward has scored four goals in his last five games against Chelsea. That included the brace he scored earlier this season when they saw off the Blues 3-1. 

Interestingly, he only played for 23 minutes at Stamford Bridge and scored twice to secure the points for the Seagulls.

Welbeck is on a run of scoring four goals across his last seven appearances. He’s the leading league scorer for the hosts and is likely to find the net in this match.

Brighton: (4-2-3-1)

Verbruggen; Wieffer, Dunk, Van Hecke, Kadioglu; Gross, Ayari; Minteh, Rutter, De Cuyper; Welbeck

Chelsea: (4-2-3-1)

Sánchez; Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernández; Palmer, J Pedro, Neto; Delap

Brighton are set to be without Diego Gomez after the midfielder was forced off early against Tottenham with a suspected knee injury.

Gomez’s replacement in north London, Kaoru Mitoma, scored a stunning goal but was later substituted after picking up a knock, which also makes him a doubt.

James Milner could return after missing the last two games, while captain Lewis Dunk is available again after serving a suspension for accumulating too many yellow cards.

Rosenior is hopeful top scorer Joao Pedro will be fit to face his former club after sitting out the Man United defeat with a thigh issue.

Enzo Fernandez should be fine despite requesting to be substituted late on against Man Utd, but Estevao (hamstring) is set to join Reece James, Filip Jorgensen, and Jamie Gittens on the sidelines.

Levi Colwill stepped up his recovery from an ACL injury by featuring for the U21s last week, though he is not yet in contention for a return to first-team action.