Brighton were much more appealing on the eye last season under Graham Potter and finished two places and five points higher than in 18-19, but it was still a long way behind the Blues (25 points) and even though the numbers suggested that Brighton were better than 15th, it was still a long way behind Chelsea who were on a par with Liverpool in terms of ITB and xP. It has also been in these kind of games, again the top 4, that the Seagulls have really struggled, which is as you might expect but almost alarmingly so, losing 14 of the last 15 (one draw) , despite scoring in 7 (exactly one each time) and by a combined 7-38. Chelsea to win 1-2/1-3/1-4 something like that, the middle score feels most likely.

That played out perfectly for us and it was an ideal run out for the Blues and their new signings. They face a tougher text today of course, but I have to be honest and say that to my mind, the Liverpool side of last season where not as good as the team who finished runners up to Manchester City in 18-19 and statistically, they were inferior to City again and on a par with Chelsea, despite the two being separated by a whopping 33 points, ITB had the two close and xP difference was just a single point !

The last 18 h2h meetings have seen BTS in 13, including 8 of 9 at Stamford Bridge and defensively, I don't think Pool are as good as they showed last season (should have conceded 7-8 more goals) and Chelsea conceded the most of any top half team and those issues are still being addressed, Brighton should probably have scored twice last week and there should be goals in this for both teams. I like Chelsea to score a couple and I would not rule out the home win, Werner and Havertz look tailor made for the Premier League, but Marcus Alonso is a liability at LB and Mo Salah must be looking forward to this. 2-2 ?

2.25 units Chelsea to score over 1.5 goals 2.34 Pinnacle......2.20 + is "good".