MY ACCOUNT
– Six of Chelsea’s last eight PL home games were deadlocked at half-time
– Four of Brighton’s last five away PL games have been level at the break
– Recommended Bet: Back a draw in the first half
Simon Barlow made it two from two on Wednesday night when he correctly predicted Real Madrid would beat Chelsea and over 1.5 goals, while he also tipped under 2.5 goals overall in the AC Milan vs Napoli clash.
Now he assesses Chelsea against Brighton as the Blues’ season continues with a tough home clash against the in-form Seagulls.
Chelsea’s season is on the brink of total collapse ahead of Saturday’s Premier League clash with high-flying Brighton.
The Blues’ last chance of salvaging some glory from a difficult campaign was dealt a major blow when Real Madrid won Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first-leg 2-0.
Interim boss Frank Lampard later insisted “special things can happen at Stamford Bridge”, but his side are winless in their last three at home and have failed to score in four consecutive matches.
That is no form to be taking into a clash with Roberto De Zerbi’s men, who have won five of their last eight games and received an apology from refereeing body PGMOL for a mistake in not awarding them a penalty in last Saturday’s underserved 2-1 defeat at Tottenham.
Team news
Lampard will make several changes in a bid to freshen up his line-up, but Chilwell is likely to be retained on the left-hand side because he is suspended for Tuesday’s return clash with Real Madrid.
That should mean starting opportunities for Conor Gallagher, Kai Havertz, Trevoh Chalobah and Mason Mount, who all came off the bench at the Bernabeu.
Kalidou Koulibaly pulled up with an injury on Wednesday and looks set to miss out, while fellow centre-back Thiago Silva could also be rested with a view to the second leg.
Benoit Badiashile and Pierre-Emerick Aubamayeng may come into the interim head coach’s thoughts, but Armando Broja (ACL) and Cesar Azpilicueta (head) are still unavailable.
As for Brighton, De Zerbi — who will serve another touchline bad after being sent off at Spurs — must make one change because Levi Colwill is unable to face his parent club.
Adam Webster is the probable like-for-like replacement at centre-back.
Midfielders Adam Lallana and Jakub Moder remain absent through injury, and winger Jeremy Sarmiento will be out for a few weeks more after fracturing a metatarsal.
Right-back Tariq Lamptey has an outside chance of returning from a knee injury to feature against his former club.
The stats
Brighton’s 4-1 win over the Blues at Amex Stadium in October was the south coast club’s first-ever league victory in the fixture, their only previous success coming in the first meeting between the teams in the 1932-33 FA Cup.
Chelsea had only won one of the five previous encounters, however, with three of the four drawn matches finishing 1-1.
The Seagulls’ 4-1 win against Lampard’s Everton in January is their biggest away win of the campaign and began a four-game losing skid for the Toffees that eventually saw the manager sacked later in the month.
Prediction
Chelsea winning this would be a bit of a shock to even their most loyal fans because they have failed to beat any top-half Premier League sides at home all season.
Brighton are much better than Fulham, Everton and, at this moment, Liverpool – all of whom took draws away from Stamford Bridge.
However, the list of teams to have won in West London is not that large either and a fifth draw in seven meetings between the clubs does seem a distinct possibility.
The Seagulls have only netted in the first 45 minutes in four of their past 18 league visits to the capital, so this could be a slow burner in the early stages.
Back a drawn first half at 11/10 with LiveScore Bet.
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