Premier League: Six can be Super for Poch’s Blues 

With just one week to go in the Premier League marathon, Chelsea’s late season European push continues on the South coast on Wednesday when Mauricio Pochettino takes his team to Brighton at the start of a big week for the Blues.

Three rounds ago this fixture, Premier League: Brighton vs Chelsea looked like an upper mid table tussle but Pochettino has guided his boys to three consecutive league wins and they now sit seventh in the league table, level on points with sixth placed Newcastle United. 

Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton did the Blues a favour at the weekend, drawing 1-1 away to the Magpies but the hosts’ campaign has fizzled out and the best they can realistically hope for is to hold on to their tenth place. But the Brighton vs Chelsea betting odds say they will struggle to get points on Wednesday and they have another big name visiting when Manchester United arrive on the Sunday showdown.

Talking Points

Captain James back for Chelsea

Pochettino’s injury list has been longer than most but, having spent an eye-watering figure on players over the past two years few neutrals have had much sympathy for the Blues. There’s no denying though that Chelsea have missed the defensive and attacking skills of wingback and captain Reece James, and to see him make an 11 minute appearance against Nottingham Forest was a huge boost for the final two games.

This is a young side with great expectations on their shoulders and to finish with a top six place, as well as reaching the Carabao Cup final, would avoid more criticism flying Poch’s way. They still need results to go their way, as well as winning their remaining games they must hope Newcastle slip up, and eighth placed Manchester United could also nick in to take the final European place should they beat Manchester City to win the FA Cup final.

Even the most diehard Red Devil, such as my SBOTOP mate James, won’t give their team much hope against the Sky Blues but Chelsea will be keen to finish sixth to be sure. But a run of 15 away games without a clean sheet is not a record to be proud of and Pochettino will be delighted to welcome James back.

His strikers have been firing; Mykhaylo Mudryk, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Jackson were all on target against Forest, the Senegalese man making it an impressive 14 for the campaign. And then there is the excellent Cole Palmer, with 21 goals and ten assists, who will be determined to be back in the goalmouth action in Brighton.              

Goal shy Seagulls have lost their way

While Chelsea have been scoring for fun; I wouldn’t put a lot of money on the visitors making it 16 away games without a clean sheet. Brighton’s visit to Newcastle ended up 1-1 but the Seagulls have failed to score more than once in an incredible 14 games in all competitions.  

It fell to defender Joel Veltman to smuggle home Brighton’s goal against the Magpies and while they put Newcastle’s top six hops in jeopardy, there own dreams of another European adventure have long since disappeared. They can finish eighth, but only by beating both Chelsea and Manchester United and that will take a quick turnaround in form.

De Zerbi will look to top scorer Joao Pedro, who netted his ninth goal of the campaign with a late winner against Aston Villa last week to provide the biggest goal threat, while midfielder Pascal Gross has been very productive, making ten assists.

But the mood around the Amex Stadium is subdued at the moment, with talk of De Zerbi’s potential departure, with Bayern Munich said to be interested, and the Seagulls will have to pull out all the stops to take on a buoyant Chelsea.            

History

With nine wins to three the Blues have bossed the Brighton vs Chelsea results and they have won the last three, including a five goal thriller at Stamford Bridge in December as Enzo Fernandez scored a double for Chelsea who also had captain Conor Gallagher sent off.

And with three wins on the bounce, to the Seagulls one win, one draw and a defeat Pochettino’s side come into the game in better form.  

Betting Tip

The Seagulls are at a price of 2.85 to win and the draw is at 3.46 so all three results are well in play. But with the better performances in recent weeks and plenty to play for, I give the visitors an edge and, for an alternative bet, a 2-1 win to Chelsea is priced at 8.29.  

 

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