FA Cup: Blues Take Aim on the Injured Seagulls

Brighton & Hove Albion vs Chelsea

Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea head south on Saturday for a mouth-watering FA Cup clash away to Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton and Hove Albion.

These two teams will meet again at the AMEX Stadium six days later when the Premier League is back on the agenda but, while league matters have usually taken precedence, Brighton and Chelsea will take this cup tie deadly seriously.

Two wins from the last three league games have lifted Maresca’s side back into the league top four, while the Seagulls sit down in tenth, and the Blues are top of the Europa Conference League table. In his first season as Chelsea manager, if Maresca can pick up some silverware and a Champions League place he will be a roaring success and, with a sizeable and talented squad at his disposal he has every chance of one, maybe two or even three celebrations.

Brighton started the season really well under Hurzeler but things have drifted in recent weeks and the youngest coach in the top flight will be keen to get his side back to winning ways quickly, particularly after they suffered badly last week.               

The Blues cruised through to the fourth round of the FA Cup thanks to a 5-0 win over Morecambe while the Seagulls whacked Norwich City 4-0. But fortunes have changed a little since then. Last weekend while Chelsea were beating West Ham 2-1, managed by their ex manager Graham Potter, Brighton were taking a humiliating 7-0 shellacking at the hands of Nottingham Forest, and that will take some recovering from.

 

Talking Points

How will Brighton respond?

One result in isolation won’t change our Brighton vs Chelsea betting tips but losing 7-0 to a team which, though shattering pre-season expectations, were one of the favourites to go down at the start of the campaign was a serious blow. It was a horror show from the start for the Seagulls who were behind on 12 minutes when centre back Lewis Dunk put through his own net. The red hot Chris Wood helped himself to a hat-trick as Forest ran riot and, despite having over 60 per cent possession, Brighton had no reply. After the game Hurzeler admitted this was his lowest point in football, saying: “We all need to be honest with each other, look in the mirror and say that is not how we want to play football. We take responsibility – all of us – for this result.”

The week before the Seagulls lost to Everton 1-0 while having over 67 per cent possession and winning the shot count by 16 to three. With the experienced Danny Welbeck and Brazilian Joao Pedro up front only having one shot on target against the Toffees was a disappointment and, with midfielders Carlos Baleba and Yasin Ayari unavailable last week they were totally over-run by Forest. 

Hurzeler knows where his team have been going wrong in all parts of the field; but can he solve the puzzle?

 

Can Chelsea regain momentum?

Maresca will be the happier of the two managers going into this game as his team has had a good coupe of weeks, with wins over Wolves and West Ham punctuated by a loss to a resurgent Manchester City. The Blues came out on top of the East vs West London clash thanks to a second half comeback inspired by substitute Pedro Neto who equalised on the hour and, as Chelsea piled on the pressure, the Hammers folded as Aaron Wan Bissaka put through his own net.

The Blues were in great shape before Christmas but lost some momentum over the festive period and into the new year; but six points from three games and a strong FA Cup third round performance has improved the mood around Stamford Bridge. Maresca did some pruning of his squad in the transfer window with Ben Chilwell, Axel Disasi and Joao Felix all loaned out. Christopher Nkunku was rumoured to be on his way too, but he will be hoping for a starting spot on Saturday, though Neto has made a good case for his inclusion.  

Striker Nicolas Jackson was substituted early in the second half of Chelsea’s win over West Ham and, while the club has said this was a precaution, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him rested on Saturday.

 

History

The Seagulls have only won three of their 19 encounters with Chelsea, drawing five and losing 19 and when the two teams met at Stamford Bridge in September the Blues ran out 4-2 winners as Cole Palmer became the first player to score four first half goals in a Premier League match.  

With three wins from the last six games both teams have been in patchy form but with back to back losses and no home wins in five Brighton have more to worry about this week. So where does that leave our SBOTOP tips?

 

Betting Tip

This is a great clash for the neutrals with all three results in play and we expect the FA Cup 2025 highlights at the Amex Stadium to show plenty of goalmouth action. But Brighton need to recover quickly from last week’s horror show if they are to get a positive outcome, with a home win priced at 2.71 and a draw at 3.38…and I’m not convinced they will.  

   

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