Chelsea are on the road at Brighton and Hove Albion on Wednesday in pursuit of a European spot in the Premier League table thanks to a recent upturn in form under Mauricio Pochettino. The Blues saw off Nottingham Forest 3-2 over the weekend while the Seagulls were held 1-1 by Newcastle United which marked a 14th game across all competitions in which Roberto De Zerbi's men have failed to scored more than once. Brighton's draw with Newcastle has actually helped Chelsea's chances of finishing in sixth position while the seasiders are now only able to finish in eighth at best with little to nothing left to play for.
With Bayern Munich continuing to go from one head coach candidate rejection to another, De Zerbi is surely not too far off being approached by the Germans but the Italian is eyeing consecutive home wins for the first time in 2024 as Chelsea eye their first pair of back-to-back road wins this year. Right now, Manchester United can wipe out Chelsea's European hopes with an FA Cup win but Pochettino's Blues are at least ending this season on a relative high which bodes well for next term. It might be 15 games without a clean sheet but the South American tactician now seems more secure in his role than he has done in a while at Stamford Bridge.
Here are our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Wednesday, May 15 | Time: 2:45 p.m. ET
- Location: American Express Stadium - Falmer, England
- Watch: Peacock Premium
- Odds: Brighton +230; Draw +320; Chelsea -105
Team news
Brighton: Joel Veltman took a knock last time out along with Julio Enciso while De Zerbi is also likely without Joao Pedro who was injured in training ahead of Newcastle. Solly March, Kaoru Mitoma, Jack Hinshelwood, Pervis Estupinan, James Milner, Evan Ferguson and Jan Paul van Hecke are all out while Veltman could be replaced by Tariq Lamptey.
Potential Brighton XI: Verbruggen; Lamptey, Dunk, Webster, Igor; Gilmour, Gross; Adingra, Buonanotte, Fati; Welbeck.
Chelsea: Lesley Ugochukwu and captain Reece James were available to Pochettino last time out so Ben Chilwell, Robert Sanchez, Carney Chukwuemeka, Romeo Lavia, Wesley Fofana and Enzo Fernandez are the main names expected to be missing. Raheem Sterling, Malo Gusto and Axel Disasi could be recalled but James is not likely to start just yet.
Potential Chelsea XI: Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Badiashile, Cucurella; Caicedo, Gallagher; Sterling, Palmer, Mudryk; Jackson.
Prediction
It is hard to see Brighton being able to muster enough to beat Chelsea so perhaps a draw is the best that the depleted hosts can realistically target -- even if a narrow loss sounds more likely. Pick: Brighton 1, Chelsea 2.
