Stamford Bridge awaits for the Albion tomorrow, with modern rivals Chelsea welcoming us.
Away games seem to be the theme at present, with only one home game in five since Manchester City.
With fireworks always expected in this fixture for the last few years, can Brighton get the better of the Blues once more?
How will Brighton prepare to go to battle at the Bridge?
(Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Albion’s 6-0 thumping of Barnsley mid week was, if nothing else, a big confidence boost to some of the rotation nation.
Hürzeler said:
“It’s very important in this business that you stay calm and that you don’t overreact, that you stay positive, that you keep working.
“It’s about the process, it’s about focusing on the development, it’s about focusing on us, it’s about having good training sessions, showing the effort we can do every day and I’m sure we’ll get the rewards sooner or later.”
Mats Wieffer and Maxim De Cuyper will both be available, whilst Jack Hinshelwood is still expected to be out for a little while.
Brajan Gruda and Yankuba Minteh both rested midweek after knocks against Tottenham.
Diego Gomez stole the show at Barnsley scoring the best hat trick (and by extension four goals) I’ve ever seen.
Hürzeler said on Gomez:
“We are all happy for him because he deserved it and he looked like a very happy boy.
“There’s a lot of competition regarding this position and we are happy that he’s in such a good place, so let’s see if he will start for us.”
With this competition in forward areas, it will be interesting to see how Hürzeler sets up the team this weekend given a result would mean a lot to the fans due to our recent history with Chelsea.
Brighton’s last three visits to Stamford Bridge have ended in defeat, shipping eight goals in the process, so we need to ensure that we can shut out Chelsea better.
Players such as Boscagli, Coppola and Watson have made good cases for themselves in the two cup fixtures, but Hürzeler is unlikely
to disrupt the starting eleven for such a big game on the calendar.
The TalkSeagulls Predicted Lineup:
GK: Verbruggen
LB: De Cuyper
CB: Dunk
CB: van Hecke
RB: Veltman
DM: Baleba
CM: Ayari
LW: Mitoma
AM: Gomez
RW: Minteh
ST: Rutter
Will there be a Chelsea Dagger?
(Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Chelsea seem to be going through a bit of an injury crisis of their own during their current blip.
Robert Sanchez is back from suspension after going studs up into Bryan Mbeumo’s knee last man last weekend, whilst Cole Palmer is expected to miss the next three weeks.
Enzo Maresca also confirmed Tosin Adarabiayo has a calf problem and Wesley Fofana sustained a concussion against Lincoln in mid week.
This with other known absentees such as Badiashile, Colwill, Delap, Buonanotte (can’t play against parent club) and Essugo leaves Chelsea in an awkward spot.
Brighton can definitely take advantage of these woes, but will need some fortune of our own.
It will be interesting to see the reception Joao Pedro gets, with Marc Cucurella and Moises Caicedo looking set for relentless booing by the away end.
The Albion will have to be careful regardless as Estevao, Gittens and Neto can all be dangerous in their own right.
Prediction:
Brighton’s Premier League travels have been pretty fruitless, slumping to defeat against Bournemouth and Everton.
Last season Brighton picked up just five points in london travels, so with caution I’ll go for a draw.
Chelsea 2-2 Brighton, Pedro, James, Gomez and Baleba.
