Chelsea will hope to find some respite from their poor run of form when they host Brighton in the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday night.
The Blues suffered another poor result on Sunday under new boss Mauricio Pochettino as Aston Villa earned a 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge, leaving them 14th in the Premier League with only five points from six games.
Brighton managed to shake off defeat to AEK Athens in their first ever European tie by seeing off Bournemouth 3-1 at the AMEX, taking the Seagulls up to third with their fifth league win of the season.
Here’s what you need to know about their upcoming cup clash.
Chelsea vs Brighton H2H record (Last Five Games)
Current form (Last Five Games)
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
Not televised |
|
United States |
ESPN+ |
|
Canada |
DAZN |
Mauricio Pochettino’s availability woes got worse on Sunday as Malo Gusto was shown a red card on VAR review for a challenge on Lucas Digne. The right-back will be suspended for three games, starting against Brighton.
Reece James is already out with a hamstring problem so Axel Disasi may play out wide, while Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Romeo Lavia, Noni Madueke, Christopher Nkunku and Carney Chukwuemeka are all sidelined.
Nicolas Jackson was shown his fifth Premier League booking of the season at the weekend but is available here and will instead miss Monday night’s trip to Fulham.
Chelsea predicted lineup vs Brighton (4-2-3-1): Petrovic; Disasi, Gilchrist, Colwill, Maatsen; Ugochukwu, Gallagher; Sterling, Palmer, Mudryk; Jackson.
Pascal Gross is unlikely to be risked by Roberto De Zerbi as he recovers from a hamstring problem, while James Milner is out until mid October. Jakub Moder is inching ever closer to returning from the cruciate ligament injury he sustained in April 2022.
Kaoru Mitoma got two goals off the bench against Bournemouth and will likely start, while Solly March may hope to return to the XI having watched the 3-1 victory as an unused substitute.
Brighton predicted lineup vs Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Steele; Lamptey, Van Hecke, Igor, Estupinan; Dahoud, Gilmour; Fati, Lallana, Mitoma; Pedro.
Pochettino’s second win as Chelsea boss came in the Carabao Cup second round as his side squeezed past Wimbledon but in the three games since they have failed to score a single goal.
Their barren streak in front of goal showed little sign of ending against Villa and their inefficiency in the final third is likely to be put under the microscope by a Brighton side that have scored a Premier League high of 18 goals so far this season.
The Seagulls won their last trip to Stamford Bridge 2-1 and are favourites to earn a similar result in the Carabao Cup third round, though maybe without conceding this time.
Prediction: Chelsea 0-2 Brighton
READ 90MIN’S FULL MATCH PREVIEWS HERE
Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
90Mins
