Brighton vs Chelsea preview, prediction, team news and head-to-head

• Over 2.5 goals

• Both teams to score

• Brighton to win

Chelsea face a tricky trip to Brighton this week as they look to end a run of successive Premier League defeats.

The new manager bounce has firmly worn off, and Chelsea now hold the unwanted honour of being the only side to lose each of their last four Premier League fixtures, after Matheus Cunha condemned the Blues to another disheartening defeat on Saturday evening.

The Blues’ form has nose-dived since beating Aston Villa at the start of March, with their only wins during this period coming against lower-league opposition in the FA Cup.

Chelsea cannot rise any higher than sixth place in the Premier League table, no matter what transpires on Tuesday evening, and their appalling run has allowed all of Brentford, Bournemouth, Fulham, Brighton, and Everton to move to within touching distance of the Club World Cup champions.

Brighton, however, are one of the form teams in the Premier League right now as Georginio Rutter’s stoppage time equaliser against Tottenham extended their unbeaten run to four games.

Furthermore, Brighton have won just three of their last 10 Premier League home games after prevailing in four of their first six in the 2025-26 campaign.

Their most recent encounter at the Amex Stadium was March's 2-1 triumph over wounded champions Liverpool.

The Danny Welbeck-inspired Seagulls memorably bested Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge back in September too, thus extending their winning run over the Blues to three games in all tournaments after back-to-back FA Cup and Premier League victories – just six days apart – in February 2025.

Brighton have won their last two league games against Chelsea, as many as they had in their first 19 against the Blues (D4L13).

Chelsea have also lost two of their last four games against Brighton when scoring first, including in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge.

Brighton Premier League form: 🟩🟥🟩🟩🟩🟧

Chelsea Premier League form: 🟥🟩🟥🟥🟥🟥

Chelsea form (all competitions): 🟥🟥🟩🟥🟥🟥

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.

As for Chelsea, 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.

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

Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Palmer, J Pedro, Neto; Delap

Chelsea's barren run in front of goal has to end at some point, and the expected return of star striker Pedro - against his former club no less - could be the magic formula needed for the Blues to finally fire again.

However, the visitors remain vulnerable at the back and are entering crisis territory in terms of the club's relationship with the fans, fractures which could no doubt seep down to the players.

Hence, we expect Brighton to relish the chance to leapfrog Chelsea in the table, boosting their chances of European qualification, and ensure Rosenior does not enjoy his return to the Amex.

Correct score prediction: Brighton 2-1 Chelsea