Predictions for Chelsea at Brighton: Three points to keep pace

Chelsea’s B-squad lost the momentum the best XI provided in last weekend’s victory over Manchester City. Maurizio Sarri’s favoured crew will look to put the Blues back on a strong footing.

Chelsea produced a goal of the season contender in this fixture last season, one of six goals they scored against Brighton in the Premier League without conceding one. The Blues should emerge victorious, but there’s always that slight doubt about the clean sheet.

Scott Brant: Brighton 0 – 2 Chelsea. Hopefully the Blues are back to the strongest XI, because Thursday’s performance was garbage. I don’t care if the match meant nothing. I’m curious to see if Maurizio Sarri trots out the same formation as the Manchester City match. Eden Hazard will score twice to begin a real hot run of form.

Tan Yi Hao: 0 – 3. Listen, as Jose Mourinho would undoubtedly point out, playing Brighton away from home is never an easy task. The Seagulls have an excellent home record this season and are placed 13th in the league for good reason.

However, this is a must-win game for the Blues considering last week’s 2-0 win over league leaders Manchester City. Any dropped points today would waste the hard-earned points last week. Chelsea need to rebuild some momentum of their own following an inconsistent November, and this is a brilliant opportunity to kick things off.

Abhishek Pancholi: 1 – 2. Sarri might be tempted to try out Eden Hazard as a false-nine again, only this time he would expect to get on the ball a lot more. Brighton can make life difficult for visiting teams and Chelsea will find it difficult to break them down. Two moments of individual brilliance will get Chelsea across the finish line. Hazard and Pedro will get the goals, but yet another defensive blunder will ruin Kepa Arrizabalaga’s clean sheet.

Kevin Peacock: 0 – 3. I guess the most important thing about this game will be if we can actually be discussing the game at the end. It’s crucial that last weekend’s win against the league leaders, that was sadly overshadowed, is not undermined by a poor performance on the south coast.

Sarri will revert to his favoured Premier League XI for the most part. Chelsea have a good record against Brighton and should be strong enough to get that win. Having been rested in the week, Eden Hazard will return to duty and the scoresheet grabbing two goals with Pedro adding a third.

Rupert Meadows: 0 – 2. Chelsea have a slow start but get there in the end. Hazard gets a goal and looks sharp. Brighton challenge but can’t finish their chances.

Hugo Amaya: 0 – 2. An uncomfortable first half for Chelsea as the team will feel over-confident, despite their recent draw in the Europa League. However, Sarri will have a few words with the team at half time and force the boys to flick a switch to score the two goals.

At the end, a relatively easy game for Chelsea but with some areas to improve.

Gabe Henderson: 0 – 2. The Blues are coming off an incredibly inspiring Premier League win over the reigning champions (c’mon, did the mid-week match really count?). Chelsea will be tested once again away at Brighton, but with their backs seemingly against the wall, expect big performances from the team’s biggest stars. A comfortable three points is in order.