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• Brighton & Hove Albion have won only one of their 16 matches against Chelsea in all competitions, a 2-1 home victory in the FA Cup third round on 14 January 1933. It was the first competitive fixture between the clubs.
• In the top four tiers of English football, Brighton have played a league game versus 109 different opponents. The only one they have failed to beat in a league fixture is Chelsea.
• Brighton have lost their seven matches at Stamford Bridge by an aggregate score of 14-0. The Seagulls only avoided defeat in a goalless Premier League draw on 20 April 2021.

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel talking to Amazon Prime:

The circumstances are the problem at the moment not so much the fixtures because we are used to it. To play all the time is not the problem, the cirumstances of missing players because of the uncertainty of Covid is. Everybody copes with this uncertainty and concern.

The Premier League match schedule has been a common talking point of late, as it often tends to be at this time of year.

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel says it is "not fair" and said his side "are struggling" after sustaining more injuries.

Chelsea asked for their game with Wolves on 19 December to be postponed, but the Premier League rejected this.

"It's like it is - but this cannot be the right way," said Tuchel.

While 16 top-flight matches have been postponed so far in December, Chelsea played their eighth game in all competitions in the month at Aston Villa and have Brighton tonight.

Callum Hudson-Odoi and Lukaku have both missed games because of Covid-19, while forwards Kai Havertz and Timo Werner were still absent and defender Thiago Silva and midfielder N'Golo Kante picked up injuries in the win at Villa Park.

"It's not fair," added Tuchel. "We've all been in bed for 10 days and we play against teams who prepare with games postponed, and who prepare with one week for these matches.

"They make us play all the time, even if we have Covid. We have new injuries and it won't stop. People at the green table, in offices, make these decisions.

"We are struggling, we're pressing our players. I have maximum respect for what the players did. We do changes because of injuries. We don't change for tactical reasons any more."

Chelsea forward Romelu Lukaku said his team had become "the hunters" in the Premier League title race after coming from behind to beat Aston Villa last time out.

The Belgium international was a half-time substitute for the Blues and made an instant impact, heading Thomas Tuchel's side in front before winning the late penalty that sealed victory.

"Our last two results were not the best [draws with Everton and Wolves], and now we have to chase," said Lukaku.

"We have to treat every game like a final.

"We are the hunters now."

He has had to be patient for game time since returning from injury earlier this month and also missed two matches after a positive Covid test.

"I needed a performance like this," he added. "Now we have to push on."

You could tell Jurgen Klopp knew it was a potentially costly loss for his side last night at Leicester.

"It's a big gap," said the German of the situation in the table. "To top that, Chelsea and us play against each other. It was not our plan to give City the chance to run away. If we play like tonight we cannot think about catching up with City.

"If we play our football and we can win games, we can see how many points we can get and what that means.

"I don't have a proper explanation for tonight - to find it is my main concern, not City.

"It didn't look like us, and that's obviously the one thing we have to think about and change immediately. We have to learn and we will."

Some contrasting team news there for the two sides. Romelu Lukaku's return had an inevitability about it. The Brighton defence won't be over the moon to see him included.

Leandro Trossard is a big miss for Albion. He's been the main attacking spark in a side that has struggled for goals. There's a bigger burden on Neal Maupay now.

Image source, Getty Images

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Romelu Lukaku starts his first Premier League match since 16 October as Thomas Tuchel makes four changes to his Chelsea side.

Andreas Christensen, Mateo Kovacic and Cesar Azpilicueta also return to the side.

Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Marcos Alonso and N'Golo Kante - who all started the 3-1 win at Aston Villa on Sunday - drop out.

Silva is not involved while Kai Havertz returns to the bench.

Chelsea XI: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, James, Kovacic, Jorginho, Hudson-Odoi, Mount, Pulisic, Lukaku.

Substitutes: Arrizabalaga, Alonso, Kante, Chalobah, Saul, Barkley, Ziyech, Havertz, Sarr.

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Brighton, who also played on Sunday, make three changes from the side that started the 2-0 victory over Brentford.

Yves Bissouma returns to the midfield after serving a suspension while Solly March and Joel Veltman are also back in the side.

There is no Leandro Trossard, who has a hamstring problem, while Adam Webster and Enock Mwepu drop to the bench.

Tariq Lamptey starts against his former club.

Brighton XI: Sanchez, Lamptey, Veltman, Burn, Cucurella, Bissouma, Lallana, March, Moder, Mac Allister, Maupay.

Substitutes: Webster, Mwepu, Gross, Alzate, Welbeck, Steele, Duffy, Richards, Ferguson.

BBC Radio 5 Live

As well as this live text commentary, there will be coverage of tonight's two top-flight games on BBC Radio 5 Live. Kelly Cates is the host as it gets under way at 19:00 GMT, with updates from both matches from 19:30.

What adds an extra wrinkle to the current situation at the top is that if Chelsea lose tonight and Manchester City win, Pep Guardiola's team could be 12 points clear by the time either of their rivals next take to the field. City next face Arsenal on New Year's Day.

Chelsea and Liverpool play the following day. Against each other.

Tonight, Man City are at Brentford in the second of the day's two Premier League games, kicking off at the attending fan-friendly time of 20:15 GMT.

Chelsea get a 45 minute head start on their title rivals when they take to the field at home against Brighton at 19:30.

So just after 10pm, we should have a pretty clear idea as to whether this season's title race is pretty much already done. Yeah, yeah, there's loads of games left blah, blah, blah, but come on. We all know it.

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The 28th and 29th of December could potentially be two of the most pivotal days in this season's Premier League title race.

Liverpool's loss last night means that if things go their way, Manchester City could be sitting on a nine-point lead at the end of play today.

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And when you consider how Pep Guardiola's team are currently playing, that would feel like an awful big, possibly unbridgeable gap.

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