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Former Brighton & Hove Albion defender Mark Lawrenson believes his old side simply do not have what it takes to get a result against Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
On his BBC column, Lawrenson predicted a 2-0 win for Chelsea and admitted it will be a tough game for Brighton against Thomas Tuchel's side. He wrote:
"Brighton finally got back to winning ways on Sunday, after a very long wait. Chelsea won too, and their game against Aston Villa was a really good one to watch. Blues boss Thomas Tuchel was complaining about having to play despite the Covid cases at the club but, if Chelsea can put out a similar side to the one that faced Villa, I'd back them to win this one too."
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Lawrenson added:
"I know Tuchel says playing Romelu Lukaku is a risk at the moment but he made the difference when he came on in that game and they should be able to get some more minutes out of him this time if they need to."
Brighton are currently 11th in the league table, beating Brentford 2-0 earlier in the week, courtesy of goals from Leandro Trossard and Neal Maupay. The Seagulls will travel to west London on Wednesday to face the Blues, who are third in the standings.
Chelsea beat Aston Villa 3-1 in an away game on Boxing Day. The Champions League holders will aim for all three points against Brighton to close the gap between themselves and title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool.
N'Golo Kante trains ahead of Chelsea game against Brighton
Although N'Golo Kante was a standout performer for Chelsea during the Boxing Day game against Aston Villa, the Frenchman was taken off after picking up an injury.
However, Kante trained with the Chelsea squad ahead of the Blues' clash with Brighton.
This bodes well for Blues boss Thomas Tuchel, who will want to start his key players and maintain pressure in the title race. Tuchel seemed worried regarding Kante's injury and said in a pre-match press conference:
"N'Golo is very painful in exactly the same spot where he had his injury versus Juventus."
However, the 30-year-old might be fit enough to play against Brighton, having trained with his Chelsea teammates on Tuesday.
