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Fresh off the back of their first home win of the season, which saw Chelsea win 7-1 over League Two side Grimsby Town they host Brighton & Hove Albion as they look to win for the first time at home in the league.
Last time the two met it ended 3-0 to this matches host after goals from Olivier Giroud; Eden Hazard and Ruben Loftus-Cheek back in April earlier this year.
Frank Lampard’s Chelsea side will hope that their win over Grimsby at Stamford Bridge will resolve their home form hoo do as they Blues had failed to win at home in the last four matches at the Bridge. This included a 2-1 loss to Liverpool and a 1-0 loss in the Champions League to Valencia.
Prior to those two matches, they were unbeaten in three having beaten Wolves 5-2; drawn with Sheffield United 2-2 at home and also won 3-2 away to Norwich City.
As for Graham Potter’s side, they haven’t sparkled this season with their only win in the league coming on the opening day as they beat fellow strugglers Watford. In their last six, they have only beaten League One side Bristol Rovers in the Carabao Cup.
Since that win they have lost 3-1 to Aston Villa which knocked them out of the same cup, while also drawing 0-0 with Newcastle and 1-1 when they hosted them at the AMEX. Before that they had lost 2-0 to Southampton and 4-0 to last season’s winners Manchester City.
What the Managers Say-
Frank Lampard is very aware of his side problems at Stamford Bridge:
“The fact we haven’t won at home is something we want to correct. We need a similar performance to Liverpool. If we get that level then I expect we can do okay. We have had a run of home games, but we have to respect Brighton.”
Graham Potter knows that his side need to score more goals:
“It’s an area where we need to improve, but in that time we’ve played away to Manchester City and we’ve also played 60 minutes with ten men,” he continued.
“The stat on its own is quite simple but you have to look deeper, then there are perhaps reasons for it – the performance levels have got us into areas to score, especially compared to the opposition we’ve been facing.
“We created more than Burnley and Newcastle, but it’s about making the most of those openings. That’s the challenge and it’s the hardest bit of the game, but I’m confident that with the quality we have it will turn around.”
Head to Head-
Chelsea Wins- 10
Draws- 1
Brighton Wins- 1
Team News-
Hosts Chelsea could welcome striker Olivier Giroud back for this match, however, is likely to continue his selection of Tammy Abraham up top for the Blues. The London side suffered a major blow in the last match as left-back Emerson (Thigh) was taken off, their defensive woes continue with Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rüdiger being doubts for this game.
Both Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Calf) and Marco van Ginkel (Knee) are not going to be ready for this encounter but the biggest selection headache for Lampard will be how does he fit Reece James into his eleven for this match, as the right-back scored and assisted two on his debut midweek.
The Seagulls will definitely be without four players in full-back Bernardo (Knee); winger Leandro Trossard (Groin); centre-back Shane Duffy (Calf) and finally Solly March (Thigh.) While Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Glenn Murray and Neal Maupay are all back in training following stints on the sidelines.
