Brighton vs Chelsea – Team News: Maresca makes another switch in key position | OneFootball

Chelsea face Brighton at the Amex in just under an hour, and the teams are in!

It’s an interesting team with plenty of notable aspects, starting in goal.

Robert Sanchez was dropped for the league game against West Ham on Monday night, but he’s back in here to face his old club. We were sort of expecting Filip Jorgensen to play tonight to continue helping him get used to playing in the first team. Does this mean Sanchez is definitely out of the league team, or is this his chance to get back in?

In the back line, Reece James is given a predictable rest, with Malo Gusto taking his place. Trevoh Chalobah steps into the centre of defence to partner the rested Levi Colwill, with Marc Cucurella continuing at left back (we’ve sold our only backup left back, so there weren’t many alternatives).

Moises Caicedo plays in central midfield, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Cole Palmer completing an attack-minded trio.

Then the front line has no Nicolas Jackson and no Marc Guiu after the pair picked up injuries on Monday night. Christopher Nkunku leads the line, flanked by Pedro Neto and Jadon Sancho.

Here are the full team line-ups for Brighton vs Chelsea (kick off at 20:00 GMT)

CHELSEA:

Also notable are some new faces on the bench. Ishe Samuels-Smith is a highly rated left back from the academy – we’d love to see him get some minutes later in the game when Cucurella tires.

Also present is January signing Mathis Amougou, a 19 year old central midfielder who’s just arrived from St Etienne. Maresca said in the week that he wasn’t ready to play yet – but we could yet see him get some minutes off the bench given there aren’t many other central midfield options and Caicedo desperately needs time off when we can afford it.