.10pm ahead of Doncaster vs Crystal Palace
When Chelsea last met Brighton in late September, they scored four goals. Cole Palmer got them all. Crucially, they were in the run of being the Premier League’s great entertainers.
Now the Blues’ output appears to have frozen. This was the fifth time since Christmas where Chelsea have taken a lead and not seen the win through. Leads have been chucked away for dropped points against Fulham, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Man City and now Brighton.
After their last defeat against City, Gary Neville accused Chelsea of missing an opportunity at the Etihad and their FA Cup exit followed the same story.
They faced a Brighton side who shipped seven last weekend, saw their goalkeeper chuck one into his net after five minutes on Saturday and even captain Lewis Dunk came off at half-time to destabilise the Seagulls’ backline even further. But Chelsea could muster just one shot on target – which came just four minutes in.
After scoring four in the last encounter between these two, Palmer was nullified. Christopher Nkunku’s rustiness was clear to see – his 33 touches was the second-lowest tally out of Chelsea’s starters. He also failed to have a shot all game.
Nicolas Jackson could come back for the next trip to Brighton on Valentine’s Day but even he has gone eight games without a goal. How Chelsea get out of this rut of not scoring enough and throwing away leads is unclear at the moment.
Sam Blitz
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