Brighton begin their fourth season as a Premier League club tonight as they welcome Chelsea to the Amex Stadium in the last of the opening weekend’s matches.
The two teams met at the same venue just over a fortnight ago in a pre-season friendly which ended 1-1, which was also the final score in the last league meeting between the clubs on New Year’s Day when Alireza Jahanbakhsh scored a spectacular late equaliser with an overhead kick.
Frank Lampard has spent more than £200m in beefing up Chelsea’s squad ahead of the new campaign but the Seagulls have also been active in the market, with some shrewd acquisitions such as Adam Lallana and Joel Veltman from Liverpool and Ajax respectively.
Graham Potter has confirmed that Christian Walton, Jose Izquierdo and Florin Andone are definitely ruled out for tonight, while Davy Propper is a major injury doubt due to an Achilles problem. [via Sussex Live]
Here is our predicted starting line-up for Brighton’s clash against the Blues:
Mat Ryan was Albion’s only ever-present player in the Premier League last season and the Australian goalkeeper will almost certainly start tonight’s clash. Dan Burn was a regular at left-back in 2019/20 and looks set to start there again, with captain Lewis Dunk taking up his usual centre-back role.
Having helped Leeds to promotion last term while on loan, Ben White has returned to his parent club and could make his Premier League debut tonight. Potter has the pleasant headache of deciding between Veltman and Tariq Lamptey for the right-back slot; with the teenager making his England under-21 bow last week and knowing Chelsea’s players from his time at Stamford Bridge, he may get the nod here.
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Propper’s likely absence will probably mean that Dale Stephens and Yves Bissouma start as the defensive midfield pairing. Leandro Trossard is likely to start on the left-hand side of an attacking midfield three, with Pascal Gross on the other flank. Lallana could then operate centrally to make his first Premier League start since Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Wolves at the tail end of 2019.
The lone striker’s role will surely go to Neal Maupay, Brighton’s top scorer last season with 10 top-flight goals, although Aaron Connolly may well feature off the bench at some point.
Brighton fans, is this the line-up that you expect to see tonight? Join in the discussion by commenting below!
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