Kick-off: 1500, 28/09/2019
Stadium: Stamford Bridge
Brighton remain without a win since the opening weekend of the season and are big underdogs to leave Stamford Bridge with three points on Saturday.
The Seagulls have had to settle for a share of the spoils in their two most recent league games against Burnley and Newcastle and start the weekend two points above the relegation zone.
Victory here would lift them above Chelsea but a home win by at least two goals at 23/20 is our opening Chelsea vs Brighton prediction.
A Look At Chelsea’s Betting Odds
Chelsea fans look willing to be patient with Frank Lampard as he works with a youthful squad in his first season in charge.
The likes of Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount have made the most of their opportunities but the Stamford Bridge faithful are yet to see a home league win this season.
Leads were squandered in draws with Leicester and Sheffield United while a second-half fightback against Liverpool last weekend was not enough to prevent a 2-1 defeat but Lampard was at least encouraged by the performance.
“It’s definitely a concern, we want to win at home,” said Lampard. “Against Liverpool, you know you can lose, they are a strong team and it can happen. I expect the home win to come soon.
“It is hard to accept congratulations after a loss but the way we played in the second half is towards where we want to be.
“Energy, passion, moving the ball quickly, changing the play, getting crosses into the box, things we work on and we did it against Liverpool.
“I don’t mind losing, I will take today but it now needs to translate to points because that performance week in, week out is going to amass points and we need to do that and keep improving.”
Eight of Chelsea’s 12 league goals have been scored in the first half and the Blues to be leading at both half-time and full-time is added to our Chelsea vs Brighton betting tips at 23/20.
Last Chelsea EPL line-up: Kepa, Christensen, Azpilicueta, Tomori, Emerson, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Mount, Abraham, Willian.
Defender Andreas Christensen has returned to training after suffering a knee knock against Liverpool but left-back Emerson Palmieri, who sustained a thigh problem in that game, will miss out. Antonio Rudiger and Ruben Loftus-Cheek remain unavailable, while striker Olivier Giroud will be assessed following illness.
A Look At Brighton’s Betting Odds
Graham Potter made a dream start to life as Brighton manager with a 3-0 win at Watford on the opening weekend but his new team have failed to build on that result, while the Hornets’ problems suggest the result was not quite as impressive as it seemed at the time.
Brighton have only managed two goals in their last five league games and a lack of killer instinct is proving costly.
They dominated the midfield battle in last week’s goalless draw at Newcastle and enjoyed 71 per cent of the possession but the closest they came to breaking the deadlock was when substitute Aaron Connolly’s effort was acrobatically hooked off the line by Fabian Schar.
Potter said: “The hardest thing in football is to put the ball in the net, of course, but we need to carry on, we need to maintain the level we’re performing at and hopefully we can get more positive results.
“That’s football, especially at this level. You can do a lot well and be undone by one action, two actions, but that’s the challenge.
“We have to focus on the performance over the 90 minutes and maintain and improve that performance and if we do that, then the final bit comes.”
Chelsea can be backed at 29/20 to win to nil in the Chelsea vs Brighton odds but instead we’re taking more of a risk for the last of our predictions and fancy the hosts for a repeat of April’s 3-0 victory in this fixture at 19/2.
Last Brighton EPL line-up: Ryan, Dunk, Webster, Montoya, Burn, Stephens, Gross, Mooy, Propper, Maupay, Alzate.
Brighton will be without centre-back Shane Duffy after he suffered a calf problem in the midweek Carabao Cup defeat against Aston Villa but Glenn Murray (ankle) should be available and Alireza Jahanbakhsh could come into contention again.
Additional stats
Last Premier League result:
CHELSEA 1-2 Liverpool – N’Golo Kante
Newcastle 0-0 BRIGHTON
Head-to-head: Chelsea 3-0 Brighton, Brighton 1-2 Chelsea, Brighton 0-4 Chelsea, Chelsea 2-0 Brighton
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