Premier League: Brighton Travel to Chelsea – a Familiar Road

Chelsea vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Forgive what I am passing off as humour, but I am half tempted to call this Premier League clash the “Brighton derby”.

For surely no club has lost so much of its talent – both playing and managerial – to another in the past decade than Brighton have to Chelsea. Many would argue that the way the south coast club has been run in recent years is an example many could learn from.

Not least Chelsea, whose exorbitant outlay since their takeover in 2022 has only resulted in successes in the Europa Conference, a tournament largely set up for the smaller clubs in Europe, and a FIFA World Club which was branded by FIFA as far more important than it actually was.

I am not being anti-Chelsea when I say that, truthfully, such investment should really lead to being in contention for both the league title and Europe’s top prize rather than its third-tier competition, which, let’s face it, is really aimed at providing some of the lesser clubs with a chance of gaining European football.

But rather than label them as “flat-track bullies”, I said at the start of the season that now was the time to start accurately judging the west Londoners under the Italian Enzo Maresca.

So here we are.

Talking Points

As Brighton arrive at Stamford Bridge this weekend, looking for Premier League 2025 highlights, many of their fans and players must wonder where they’d be right now had they been able to keep their top talent in recent years.

Not all their stars have left for Chelsea, of course, but even a look at some of those that have would significantly strengthen any team.

When João Pedro headed from the Seagulls this summer for a £60 million fee, he was merely the latest in a list of talent that have made that journey in recent seasons, most notably Moises Caicedo (£115 million), Marc Cucurella (£62 million) and goalkeeper Robert Sánchez (anywhere between £25 and £29 million depending on who you believe).

He should return as the home custodian this Saturday after serving a one-match ban in midweek following his early sending-off at Old Trafford.

That means Maresca should be at pretty much full-strength except arguably their best player in young talent Cole Palmer, who had to come off after 20 minutes against Manchester United with the recurrence of a long-standing groin injury.

Cole Palmer’s absence from training has cast doubt on his involvement in the forthcoming Premier League clash with Brighton. — Doubts linger over Cole Palmer’s readiness for the Brighton game after he sat out training this week

Yes, they will have players missing this weekend, amongst them Liam Delap (thigh) and Levi Colwill (knee), but with a bulging squad, you’d expect a strong starting XI and substitutes bench.

One of them, Facundo Buonanotte, who netted the winner in their League Cup tie at League One Lincoln in midweek, is ineligible as he is on loan from Chelsea – oh the irony.

How Brighton, who have also seen no fewer than nine members of staff leave for Chelsea in recent years – the most notable being one-time manager Graham Potter – would wish to have such depth.

They had their own midweek cup outing against lower league opposition, and it was a night to remember for Diego Gomez, who was in devastating form as they demolished Barnsley 6-0, with Gomez helping himself to four.

That must have pushed him close to being named in the starting lineup this weekend when manager Fabian Hurzeler could have left-back Maxim De Cuyper back in contention after a minor knee issue.

Jack Hinshelwood (foot), Solly March (knee), and Adam Webster (knee) remain on the treatment table for the Seagulls, who have just one win from their opening five league games of the season after a 2-2 draw with Spurs last weekend – still a decent result given their capacity rebuild after shipping talent on an almost annual basis

History

Brighton have only tasted victory five times in this fixture – in their very first game in the third round of the 1933 FA Cup and then not until a league double in 2022-23 when they were terrific at home, racing into a half-time 3-0 lead en route to a 4-1 success which was the return Potter and Cucurella (who had left Brighton a month before Potter) must have dreaded.

As well as own goals from Cucurella and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Leandro Trossard and Pascal Gross (both now also departed from the south coast) were on target.

To show the rise of Brighton, they went on to win at Stamford Bridge five months later when Danny Welbeck and Julian Enciso were on target in a 2-1 success.

Overall, there have been five draws and Chelsea have 16 wins, most recently in the corresponding league game last term when they ran out 4-2 winners as Palmer produced a superb individual display with four first-half goals, one from the penalty spot.

Brighton exacted revenge twice in a week in February, winning a fourth-round FA Cup tie 2-1 before a comprehensive 3-0 triumph in the top flight, courtesy of Kaoru Mitoma and a Yankuba Minteh double.