Match Preview: Chelsea v Brighton
It says much about the task facing Brighton and Hove Albion at Wembley on Saturday that Chelsea away is quite clearly the much easier game of the Seagulls’ London double.
Whilst Manchester City are in imperious form and chasing an historic quadruple, Chelsea have entered another one of their “crises” as they struggle with the potential embarrassment of missing out on the top four. First world problems, eh?
As a result, Maurizio Sarri looks to be the latest manager to be booted out of Stamford Bridge. There is mutiny on the terraces thanks to a terrible second half of the season and in other circumstances, you might even think that this game could provide the best opportunity yet for the Albion to take a point away from one of the big six.
But we’re in equally terrible form as the Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Southampton highlighted. Play like that in West London against the Blues and the Sarri Out brigade will be able to have a night off as a comfortable win for the hosts will be in store.
Who are Chelsea?
Chelsea were formed in 2003 when Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich decided to invest some of vast wealth that he mysteriously obtained after the fall of the Soviet Union into an English football club. The results have been stunning with the Blues picking up 15 major trophies in the subsequent 16 years including five Premier League titles and the Champions League in 2012. They’ve also managed to rattle through 13 different managers through a combination of an impatient owner and fan and player power and their supporters have been involved in several high-profile incidents involving racism and antisemitism which is particularly ironic give that the man who has single handedly bankrolled their success is Jewish. In December, they even managed to tick off a pretty disgraceful full house of discrimination inside of a week by racially abusing Raheem Sterling, being cited for singing antisemitic songs against Hungarian side MOL Vidi and then having supporters chucked out of the Amex for homophobic abuse during their 2-1 win over the Albion.
What are they like now?
As already noted, Sarri is under huge pressure which doesn’t really come as a surprise to anyone. The Italian has a very specific style of football which players need to learn to adapt to and obviously, that can take time. We’ve seen that at Manchester City where even the great Pep Guardiola struggled in his first campaign and at Liverpool where Jurgen Klopp has needed four seasons to turn the Reds into title challengers. Time is something you don’t get at Chelsea as if you lose two games in a row and don’t lift five trophies in your first season, both the owner and supporters will write you off as a complete failure. As a result, Sarri was never likely to be a good fit at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea will probably find themselves looking for a 14th manager of the Abramovich era and possibly outside of the top four for the second consecutive season.
Which players should we be worried about?
In our three Premier League meetings with Chelsea to date, Eden Hazard has been comfortably the best player on the park. That made it all the more ominous that Sarri rested him as the Blues squeaked past Cardiff City at the weekend as a fit and fresh Hazard will be about as welcome a sight as seeing Harold Shipman carry out a home call to your Gran. Callum Hudson-Odoi had a highly promising full debut for England in the Three Lions 5-1 win over Montenegro but for reasons nobody really understands isn’t really trusted by Sarri and is yet to start a Premier League game. Off the pitch, if you see Marcos Alonso driving to the game and he offers you a lift then please say no as there is a danger he might end up killing you by drunkenly ploughing his car into a wall.
What’s the Albion’s record like against Chelsea?
It doesn’t make for great reading. Solly March’s goal in the December meeting was only the second time that the Albion have ever scored against Chelsea in a league game and we’ve never scored a goal at Stamford Bridge outside of wartime football. Brighton’s full record against Chelsea reads played 11, won one, drawn one, lost nine, scored five, conceded 22. It could be a long night.
What’s the best WeAreBrighton.com memory of Chelsea away?
Given that we’ve hardly played Chelsea at all throughout our history, visits have been few and far between. It was at Stamford Bridge however where the Brighton v Crystal Palace rivalry really sparked into life when Alan Mullery had his famous “You’re not worth that” moment in an FA Cup First Round Second Replay in 1976.
What’s the worst WeAreBrighton.com memory of Chelsea away?
Chelsea is one place that you do not want to be going when there is no public transport available. We found that out to our cost on Boxing Day last year with horror stories of it taking nearly five hours to complete the 62 mile journey from Stamford Bridge back to Brighton as traffic became completely gridlocked after the game. The football hadn’t helped either, the Albion failing to register a shot on goal as the Hazard-inspired Blues ran out comfortable 2-0 winners. In fact, the only highlight was pondering how on earth Chelsea have gotten away with calling the disabled entrance to Stamford Bridge “The Spackman Entrance” after former player Nigel Spackman.
Who’s played for both sides?
Former Chelsea legend Gus Poyet managed Brighton to the League One title in the 2010-11 season and loved returning to his former club to sign young players. There were mixed results in that regard – Liam Bridcutt proved to be an excellent acquisition and Rohan Ince had his moments. Anton Rodgers and Ben Sampayo on the other hand were better known for what happened or didn’t happen in a room in the Jury’s Inn than their achievements on the pitch.
Other than football, what is Chelsea known for?
Money, and we’re not just talking about Abramovich’s strangely gained wealth. Chelsea is one of the most affluent parts of the United Kingdom and even has it’s own television show, Made in Chelsea which is, for want of a better term, shit. Famous Chelsea supporters include Gordon Ramsay, Will Ferrell and Ellie Goulding which unfortunately results in her removal from the future wife list.
Where’s the betting value for Chelsea v Brighton?
Saturday’s performance against Southampton was so abject that it is hard to see anything other than a convincing Chelsea win. The majority of our visits to top six clubs in 18 months as a Premier League side have seen defeats with under 2.5 goals, and you can back that total goals number at 21/17. That seems a solid bet as, lets face it, Chris Hughton won’t send a side out with the intention of scoring and Chelsea are in the sort of rut at the minute whereby they will happily scrape their way to a one or two goal victory.
Prediction?
The same as last year’s visit to Stamford Bridge – a 2-0 win for the hosts.
