Chelsea v Brighton Betting Tips [3 December 2023]

Beleaguered Chelsea will play host to eighth-placed Brighton in a Premier League encounter set for Sunday. An inconsistent season leaves Chelsea in 10th with 16 points from 13 games and six points adrift of their visitors. Mauricio Pochettino’s men suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat to Newcastle United last time out and will hope to bounce back. Their troubles were compounded with captain Reece James being red-carded in that defeat. Their league form is a major concern, having won just one of their last five games. It is even more worrying, looking at their home record, of one win in 14 league matches. While they aren’t in great shape, there isn’t much fault in Chelsea’s final third. They have scored in all but two of their last 10 matches. However, three clean sheets only in their last 10 matches paint a grim picture of their defending. In five of their last seven matches, both teams managed to score. The fact that Chelsea are without James, Ben Chilwell, Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana in defence worsens their case.

The Seagulls are coming from an away 1-0 win over Greek side AEK Athens in the Europa League. Last time in the league they overwrote their six-game winless run by edging Nottingham Forest 3-2. With back-to-back wins, Brighton can feel their confidence is coming back. Two of their three wins in the last four matches came in Europe and Brighton hope to put a marker domestically too. They will want to build on the recent highs, especially after getting their third clean sheet in 19 matches. Brighton certainly remember the last time they faced Pochettino as they handed him a 3-0 defeat while at Spurs. The visitors will head into the fixture with shoulders high as they are unbeaten in their last five meetings against Chelsea. Like the Blues, Brighton will seek to improve defensively. Both teams have scored in their last 17 league matches, stretching back to last season. Brighton’s last clean sheet in the league was in their 3-0 win over Arsenal in May.

With both these teams having porous defenses but consistent attacks, we can expect goals here. Brighton’s league run hasn’t returned many clean sheets, and neither has Chelsea’s. Our prediction for Chelsea v Brighton is for both teams to score.