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Chelsea welcome Brighton in the Premier League on Wednesday after a monumental victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final.
A solid 1-0 win over the Cityzens at Wembley ensured Chelsea’s second cup final in subsequent seasons. This also puts them in a firm position for a double this campaign. In the Premier League, however, Tuchel’s men are fighting against West Ham and Leicester City for a Champions League spot for next year. The Blues are currently at fifth, but a win against the Seagulls would lift them back to the top-four.
Although their performance in the Champions League and the FA Cup has been quite convincing, Chelsea’s recent Premier League form has slightly dipped, with just a single win in their last three matches. A draw against Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds and a thrashing at the hands of West Brom earlier in April saw them drop vital points in a short period. But they did manage to end their two-game winless run with a resounding 4-1 win over Crystal Palace in their last league outing. The Londoners have a good record at home against their upcoming opponents as they would probably put the bizarre 5-2 defeat to West Brom at Stamford Bridge behind them with a cruising victory over Graham Potter’s men on Wednesday night.
The Seagulls lie 16th with 33 points with a game in hand, seven clear than 18th place Fulham. So, Brighton is expected to play much more freely and even go all-out for a win in the later half. But the visitors find themselves in a bit of a sticky situation, registering only two wins from their last nine league games. They have struggled to find the net throughout the Premier League this season, as only the league’s bottom four (Burnley, Fulham, West Brom and Sheffield United) have scored fewer goals than them. A few massive points in the next few weeks, starting with a victory or even a draw against Tuchel’s team, should be enough to guarantee another year in the top-flight.
Key Players
Edouard Mendy: Mendy has been his club’s signing of the season. Arriving from Stade Rennes for a marginal fee of €24m, he displayed his quality with nine clean sheets in his first 12 games. And the Blues have allowed 8.9 shots per game, compared to 8.5 last term, which only means that their defence has been much more dogged this season. The Blues are, in-fact defending less this campaign with their attacking threats slowly gelling together. Still, Mendy is one of the significant factors for Chelsea’s consistent form and deserves to be crowned as their Player of the Year.
Jorginho: After Maurizio Sarri left for Juventus in summer 2019, several Chelsea fans and pundits wrote off the Italian midfielder. But time and time again, Jorginho has appeared to be Chelsea’s saviour, silently controlling the game at his will. As evident in their FA Cup victory over Man City. Mateo Kovacic’s absence meant that Jorginho and N’Golo Kante would play as pivots and the 29-year-old was outstanding once again. A superb reader of the game he absorbed the intense pressure created by Man City’s attackers and controlled the Blues long periods of passing. With 89% passing accuracy this season. Jorginho is surely one of the most underrated half backs in the world currently.
Yves Bissouma: The 24-year-old Bissouma, has been a standout performer at the Amex Stadium this season. The Malian international once again caught everyone’s attention against Everton at home last Tuesday. Signed from Lille in 2018 for £15m his significant rise in form allowed his value to surge upto £50m currently with ‘significant interest’ from Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Monaco and Real Madrid according to his agent. His numbers of 86.7% accurate passes and 1.2 successful take-ons per match this year will surely take him to a big club in the near future.
Lewis Dunk: Captain Dunk has been Brighton’s best player this season and has been leading the charge at defence. The Brighton local rarely puts a foot wrong in defence and has also scored four times in 28 league games. With 3.3 clearances and 0.9 tackles per match for the Seagulls in 2020/21, Gareth Southgate has to call up the 29-year-old sooner rather than later.
Prediction
Heading into Wednesday’s fixture, Chelsea will be carrying their good form, and an easy win at home is expected of them. In their last six meetings against Brighton, Chelsea have won five and are clear favourites to add three points to their tally.
Midfielder Mateo Kovacic and centre-back Andreas Christensen are set to miss out for the blues as Tuchel will probably make a few adjustments with the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Christian Pulisic set to return to the starting XI.
Brighton have lost three of their last six fixtures and are still figuring out a way to score more often. Therefore, the final seven games of the season will surely decide the Seagull’s fate with West Ham, Man City and Arsenal all to play in the coming few weeks.
Former Chelsea man Tariq Lamptey, Percy Tau and Solly March remain out of contention due to injuries for the Seagulls.
