Chelsea vs Brighton and Hove Albion

Chelsea

Chelsea’s season has so far proven extremely unpredictable. With manager Frank Lampard choosing to rely on youth after the club were banned from signing new players for two transfer windows, and such an approach is showing its usual strengths and weaknesses. They are capable of putting in a brilliant game, but they have also been known to succumb to pressure.
They currently sit in a group of teams with eight points to their name, with two wins, two draws and two defeats. The defeats came away to Manchester United in the opening round and last week at home to Liverpool. Leicester City and Sheffield United both managed to sneak a point away from Stamford Bridge, while the two triumphs were achieved away to Norwich City and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Team News

Lampard will be without the services of defender Antonio Rudiger, who is a long-term absentee, as well as Emerson, who was replaced early in the Liverpool game with a thigh injury. Andreas Christensen also had to leave the pitch in that game with a knee problem, but he is currently being assessed and may yet recover in time. Midfielders Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Marco van Ginkel have also been absent for a long time now. Striker Olivier Giroud was ill last week and he still isn’t certain to appear.
Therefore, Kurt Zouma is likely to partner Fikayo Tomori at the back, while Tammy Abraham looks certain to lead the line upfront.

Brighton and Hove Albion

Brighton have successfully navigated through two Premier League seasons, this being their third consecutive campaign in the top flight. They can hardly hope to do anything more but stay up, and even that, as always, will likely be a struggle which won’t be settled before May.
At the moment, the Seagulls sit in 15th place on six points, though table rankings at this point mean very little; a win could, in theory, see them climb to the top half. This game will hardly carry any weight for manager Graham Potter and his players. Coming to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge isn’t the time to be hoping for points too much, but they should, perhaps, take heart from the feats of Sheffield United and Leicester City who took one apiece.

Team News

Forwards Leandro Trossard and Jose Izquierdo, and defenders Ezequiel Schelotto, Leon Balogun and Shane Duffy have all been ruled out with various injuries. Midlfielders Bernardo, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Solly March are being assessed ahead of the trip to London, while forward Neal Maupay should be ready to play having recovered from a knee injury.

Conclusion

Chelsea won’t be thinking about anything else but winning this game. They’re likely to attack for large portions of the game, and Abraham should at some point find the back of the net. The young striker perhaps wasn’t able to outwit the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip last week, but this time around his form and substantial talent should be on display. After all, he did score seven goals in six games so far.
Verdict: Tammy Abraham to score
Best odds: 5/6