Amid chaos surrounding the European Super League, Chelsea played out a drab goalless draw against Brighton. The off-field events were much livelier than the match, with fans protesting outside Stamford Bridge against the Super League, causing a 15-minute delay in kick-off.
Chelsea missed the chance to go third, and with the point just sneak in the top four thanks to a better goal difference. Saturday’s match against West Ham now becomes a massive game in deciding the top-four race.
Team News
Chelsea
Chelsea made five changes from the weekend’s FA Cup victory. There were recalls for Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen, Marcos Alonso, Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic.
Brighton
Brighton’s last match was eight days ago, another stalemate at home to Everton. They made three schanges from that team. Adam Webster, Dan Burn, Alexis Mac Allister replaced Adam Lallana, Jakub Moder and Neal Maupay in the starting XI.
Chelsea fail to come to life in a drab contest
Thanks to the protests outside Stamford Bridge, Chelsea decided to withdraw from the Super League. That was the big headline pre-match and remained so after the match as well. Chelsea failed to create any meaningful chances and lacked any tempo against a comfortable-looking Brighton side. It wasn’t until half-an-hour that the Blues registered their first shot on target, a comfortable save from Kai Havertz. Then Brighton came close with their first meaningful attack of the game. Yves Bissouma’s deflected shot just looping over Kepa in goal.
A response was expected from the Blues after a poor first half, but instead it was the Seagulls who sparked into life. Zouma was robbed of possession by substitute Neal Maupay, and the chance fell to Adam Lallana, whose left-footed shot fizzed narrowly wide. Moments later, Jorginho conceded possession and Welbeck’s excellent long-range rattled the post. Lallana then forced a fine save from Kepa as the visitors hunted their first ever goal at Stamford Bridge. Apart from an Olivier Giroud shot which went wide of the near post, Chelsea didn’t create any meaningful chances. In the second minute of stoppage time, Ben White was sent off after picking up a second yellow card.
Though Brighton will be happy with a point, they will feel they could have had all three. It was their first point at Stamford Bridge in four visits.
What does it mean for the league table?
Chelsea creeped into the top-four thanks to West Ham’s loss at Newcastle. The two are level on points but a superior goal difference means Chelsea occupy the fourth place. The Blues could have jumped to third with a win.
Brighton remained 16th but moved seven clear of 18th placed Fulham having played a game fewer. A win would have propelled them to 14th and put all relegation fears to bed.
Chelsea 0-0 Brighton: Opta Stats
- Chelsea have lost just one of their 13 Premier League game under Thomas Tuchel (W7 D5), after losing five of the eight directly before that (W2 D1).
- Brighton have kept 11 clean sheets in the Premier League this season, with eight of those coming since the turn of the year – they last registered more shutouts in a top-flight campaign in 1981-82 (14).
- Since winning promotion in 2017, Brighton have drawn more Premier League games 0-0 than any other side (17), including each of their last two. The Seagulls have now registered six goalless draws this season, more than in any of their previous Premier League campaigns.
- Of managers to oversee 10+ Premier League games in charge of Chelsea, only Glenn Hoddle (1.2) and Ian Porterfield (1.1) have posted a lower goals per game rate in the competition than Thomas Tuchel (1.3 – 17 goals in 13 games).
- Thomas Tuchel has seen his Chelsea side concede just 0.62 goals per game in the Premier League (8 in 13 games), the second-best ratio of any Blues’ boss in the competition to oversee 10+ games after Luiz Felipe Scolari (0.6 – 15 in 25 games).
- Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga has kept five clean sheets in a row in all competitions for the Blues, as many as he managed in his previous 18.
- Since the start of their first Premier League season in 2017-18, Brighton have picked up 12 red cards, with only Arsenal (14) and Leicester (13) suffering more in that time.
Up Next
Chelsea travel to West Ham for an important London derby, on Saturday in the Premier League.
On the same day, Brighton travel to relegated Sheffield United in the Premier League.