Key events
Cole Palmer has tightness in his hamstring, apparently, hence his absence. Joao Pedro is also spared the burden of looking his former teammates in the eye after they overtake his current employers, with the Brazilian in line to return for this weekend’s FA Cup semi-final against Leeds.
“Are Chelsea now the Spursiest club in London?” asks Gary Naylor. “Or is that Arsenal?” What Spurs would give to be Spursy right now.
The teams!
Get yer team news here! Is that a back five Chelsea have gone with? Looks like it might be.
Brighton: Verbruggen; Wieffer, Van Hecke, Boscagli, Kadioglu; Minteh, Baleba, Gross, Mitoma; Hinshelwood; Rutter. Subs: Ayari, De Cuyper, Dunk, Kostoulas, O’Riley, Steele, Welbeck, Veltman, Igor Julio.
Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Fofana, Hato, Cucurella; Caicedo, Lavia; Fernandez, Pedro Neto; Delap. Subs: Acheampong, Adarabioyo, Dario Essugo, Derry, Garnacho, Marc Guiu, Santos, Sarr, Sharman-Lowe.
Referee: Craig Pawson.
VAR: James Bell.
Hello world! Six defeats in seven games in all competitions, with the one non-defeat an FA Cup win over Port Vale who play in League One and thus doesn’t count, mean Chelsea have all but kissed goodbye to their chances of a place in the top five. Brighton meanwhile have won five of their last seven, all of them in the Premier League. On Valentine’s Day Chelsea were fifth and Brighton 13 points back in 14th; if they win tonight Brighton will go above them. “My job is to be accountable. The buck stops with me,” says the beleaguered Liam Rosenior, whose summer holiday looks increasingly likely to be indefinite in length.
So, and to summarise, actually quite a lot riding on this. Here’s Jacob Steinberg on Chelsea’s sticky spot:
Liam Rosenior has acknowledged his job will be under threat if he cannot turn around Chelsea’s poor form before the end of the season.
Although the head coach recently received public backing from the co-owner Behdad Eghbali, he is aware that retaining long-term support is dependent on results. Chelsea are under growing pressure as four consecutive league defeats have left them seven points off fifth-placed Liverpool with five games to play, and Rosenior was realistic when asked whether his bosses had assured him his future did not hinge on securing Champions League qualification.
“I’ve had many conversations with them,” he said. “It’s a very direct question, I like it. They’re supporting me. They believe in me. There’s one thing I haven’t believed – the reality of the situation. At Chelsea football club, we’ve lost our four last league games. That’s not good enough. So, regardless of what they believe I can achieve with the club in the long term, I need to get results now.”
Much more here:
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