Brighton & Hove Albion vs Chelsea

Graham Potter’s emotional reunion with his beloved Brighton & Hove Albion pits Chelsea against the 49-year-old’s former employers at the AMEX Stadium this weekend.

Roberto De Zerbi’s appointment as Potter’s successor at the helm of Brighton threatens to tarnish the English manager’s legacy, with the ‘Seagulls’ going winless in all five Premier League outings under the Italian manager (D2, L3). It’s been less than a month since De Zerbi took over the job, but the pressure begins to mount after Brighton drew a blank three times across their last four league matches since an action-packed 3-3 draw at Liverpool on the Italian’s touchline debut. What better way for De Zerbi to get off the mark than leading Brighton to a historic first-ever Premier League victory over Chelsea? The hosts have gone winless in all ten previous meetings with the London powerhouse in the competition (D4, L6), including a hat-trick of draws in the last three.

In the meantime, visiting Chelsea pulled off a 2-1 win away to RB Salzburg in midweek Champions League action to ensure progression into the competition’s knockouts with a game to spare. Back to the Premier League, where they’ve yet to lose under Potter’s stewardship (W3, D2), the ‘Pensioners’ will be looking to bounce back from a morale-crushing 1-1 home draw with Manchester United last time out. After drawing back-to-back Premier League fixtures ahead of this trip, the ‘Blues’ could register three successive top-flight stalemates for the first time since 2012. But since they’ve never found themselves trailing Brighton across their ten previous Premier League encounters, Chelsea should be confident about getting back to winning ways at the expense of Potter’s former side.