Match Preview: Brighton have Valentine’s date with some exes

February 14, 2025February 14, 2025 Andrew James 0 Comments

Friday night is Valentine’s. A day which sees couples spend some quality time together and exchange gifts as an expression of love. Or if you are Brighton & Hove Albion, have a rendezvous with all the exes who jilted you to join Chelsea.

A romantic night awaits under the lights at the Amex for Fabian Hurzeler’s Seagulls. Can they beat the Blues for a second time in the space of six days?

Brighton book their place in FA Cup fifth round

We witnessed some incredible things happen at the Amex last Saturday. Marc Cucurella almost got snapped into two courtesy of Joel Veltman, cementing his place as an Albion cult hero in the process.

And of course, Brighton booked their place in the fifth round of the oldest cup competition in the world, moving one step closer to another Wembley FA Cup appearance by defeating Chelsea 2-1.

Coming off the back of a 7-0 thumping by high flying Nottingham Forest, it was fair to say confidence amongst the Albion fanbase was on the floor going into the game.

Brighton’s woes continued when an awful start saw them fall behind after only five minutes. Cole Palmer fired in a cross which Bart Verbruggen somehow pushed into his own net.

An amateur mistake from the Dutch number one goalkeeper and the worst start imaginable. Was another 7-0 defeat on the cards?

No, thankfully. It did not take long for the Albion to get back into it. The 12th minute saw some smart movement from Yankubu Minteh before laying off to Veltman.

A beautiful whipped cross from the Brighton right back found the head of Georginio Rutter. The Frenchman powered it past the helpless Roberto Sanchez for his seventh goal of the season, taking him ahead of Danny Welbeck as Brighton top scorer.

The flow of the match continued to stay fairly open throughout the rest of the first half with possession being split almost equally. But neither side were able to produce any clear cut chances which saw them cancelling each other out.

Midway through the second half, the Albion got themselves in front. Rutter pinged the ball over the entire Chelsea back-line which was chested and controlled beautifully by Karou Mitoma.

He slotted past Sanchez with the ball bouncing inside the far post. The most hated man in Sussex Cucurella failed to stop it from crossing the line. It was a fabulous finish which, as it happened, felt like it was taking place in slow motion.

Chelsea tried to get themselves back into it but a stubborn Albion back-line held firm. Verbruggen made up for his early mistake by making a couple of superb saves late on.

The final whistle blew and the Albion had booked their place in the fifth round, a fantastic performance and just the response the fans wanted to see after that horrendous game against Forest.

Brighton v Chelsea head-to-head

This will be the 26th meeting between Brighton and Chelsea. The Blues lead the head-to-head by quite a long way with 16 wins compared to just four for Brighton.

Three of those Albion wins have come in the past two-and-a-bit years, since Graham Potter swapped the Amex Stadium for Stamford Bridge.

Roberto De Zerbi poured humiliation on Potter when leading Brighton to a 4-1 thrashing of Chelsea in October 2022. De Zerbi then secured the Albion’s first ever win against the Blues at Stamford Bridge later in the season.

Five of the games meanwhile have ended level, including both matches in the 2021-22 season when Potter was Albion manager.

Brighton v Chelsea team news

Hurzeler continues to operate with a huge number of absentees. Joining the injury list is captain Lewis Dunk, who came off injured against Chelsea last week.

Dunk has since undergone a scan on his ribs and is highly unlikely to be fit for round two against the Blues.

Igor Julio and Ferdi Kadioglu are out for the season. Veteran James Milner is still recovering from an injury picked up in August and there is no return date set for him yet.

Solly March is back in training after a muscle issue but will not make the game. Left back Pervis Estupinan also remains out, meaning he misses a fourth consecutive match.

Finally, Mats Wieffer has played a full part in training this week and therefore could return to the squad for the first time in 2025.

Wieffer has not been seen since suffering a knee injury immediately after scoring his first Albion goal away at West Ham United just before Christmas.

Enzo Maresca also has a few key absentees to contend with, most notably in defence. Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Forfana remain unavailable as both recover from hamstring injuries.

Reece James is a doubt. The Chelsea captain was rested for the FA Cup game and if he makes it to the Amex this time, will probably only be fit enough for a place on the bench.

£50 million signing Romeo Lavia will watch from the sidelines after picking up a muscle injury against Bournemouth a few weeks ago. The former Southampton player has endured a torrid time since his big money move to the Blues.

Marc Guiu will be out for a while and Nicolas Jackson is expected to miss the next six weeks with a hamstring injury.

Chelsea players to watch out for

Having spent over a billion pounds on players since Todd Boehly took over, Chelsea have a seriously talented squad with plenty of individuals who can cause Brighton problems.

Cole Palmer

Chelsea’s best player was kept relatively quiet last weekend other than the cross which led to the visitors taking the lead.

That was unusual for a player who has 14 goals and six assists to his name so far. Four of those Palmer goals of course came in the first half when Chelsea beat Brighton 4-2 at Stamford Bridge back in September.

De Zerbi revealed just before his departure from Brighton that the Albion tried to sign Palmer prior to the forward joining Chelsea from Manchester City.

Imagine if the Seagulls had pulled that signing off? Not only would Palmer have scored goals galore in a Brighton shirt, but I would not still be suffering from PTSD caused by the way he destroyed us five months ago.

Enzo Fernandez

Argentinian World Cup winner Fernandez gets the nod as the second player to keep an eye on from a Chelsea squad of approximately 900.

The 24-year-old operates at the heart of midfield with a license to roam forward. Fernandez cost £106 million which briefly made him the most expensive player in the Premier League until the Blues then went and paid £115 million for Moises Caicedo.

Like Palmer, Fernandez had little impact on proceedings in the FA Cup tie during the 30 minutes he played. He is another who will be looking to do better this time around.

Fernandez is fast, has amazing vision and makes playing passes look effortless. He creates plenty of chances and also has a lethal shot on him.

Three goals and four assists so far this season does not really reflect the importance of Fernandez to Chelsea. Keeping Fernandez quiet will be vital to the Albion’s chances of success.

Final thoughts

Playing the same team back-to-back has plenty of positives and some negatives. Both sides will analyse last weekend’s game rigorously and look for additional weaknesses that may be present.

Confidence will be high for Brighton, whereas Chelsea will be returning to the Amex with the mindset that they simply cannot lose again. Leaving with anything other than three points would be totally unacceptable in their eyes.

I expect Maresca’s men to start the game fast and look to impose themselves early on, similar to last week. The Albion will certainly feel like pushing on for the three points after beating Chelsea only last week.

With only 14 games left to be played, we are not far away from the business end of the season. Brighton’s European dream is still alive although it looks a much harder prospect after consecutive defeats against Everton and Forest.

Chelsea have not had things all their own way either recently. A five game winning streak through November saw the Blues tipped by some to be in with a chance of winning the title.

That though has since subsided with Chelsea now a huge 14 points behind runaway leaders Liverpool. A top four finish and winning the Europa Conference looks the best Chelsea can hope for now.

I think Jackson is a big miss for the visitors as it leaves them without a recognised striker and I am not fully convinced by Christopher Nkunku (famous last words).

For us, the potential absence of Dunk could sting. His organisation of the defence and leadership are key assets which Brighton may noticeably struggle without.

If the Albion were to lose this game, it would feel like one step forward followed by two back. The bookies and most pundits are of course expecting a Chelsea win but I fancy the Albion to cause another upset.