We live in the days of statistics, not only in the game but in the world in general. I like skewing the statistics to make the same ones say very different things, but then sadly that’s what they are regularly used for instead of helping see the proverbial wood for the trees.How about Chelsea’s recent run of form between the two Manchester City games in the league. We had certainly got to the top of the league and now we sit in third place and those are not the statistics we want to hear. How about 30 points out of 45, not bad, or we have won six games in the last 13 in all competitions. Again, could do a little better, might be marked on the report card.

On the other hand, how about one defeat in 25 games between those two Manchester City results and if you consider that last-minute winner by Masuaku at the London Stadium, you must admit that owed quite a lot to weird chance as opposed to hard numbers.Let’s put it another way, Chelsea are very hard to beat with even the rampant Manchester City only squeezing by with a 1-0 score line at the ends of those 25 matches.I suppose these are the statistics that made me less than likely to panic when we came away from the Etihad with no points. I wouldn’t argue too much with the score line, but in the second half at their home ground we more than held our own apart from that ‘worldy’ by a world-class player.I think the thing we needed most after this weekend was another game quickly, the team reacted well last time and although Brighton are a very interesting and impressive side, it is an opportunity to put the pressure right back on the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, West Ham and Spurs who are the real contenders in the top-four fight.

Brighton have once again impressed, getting themselves into the Premier League ‘safe zone’ and are now firmly able to look up the table in hope rather than down the league in fear.Their performance at Stamford Bridge just after Christmas, particularly in the second half, showed us fear is not something that is a problem for Graham Potter’s men. The late injury-time goal from Danny Welbeck might have been hard to take, but the fighting spirit and positive tactics were impressive, if maybe only in hindsight. We were all a bit too gutted in the moment to accept that inside the Bridge back then.There is a lot of talk about the top tactical coaches in the Premier League at the moment with Thomas Tuchel, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp getting most of the kudos in this discussion. There are however others and Potter is one of them. He is nothing if not inventive and agile in his outlook towards the game and that needs to be taken seriously.

He is one of the few managers who isn’t seen to be wedded primarily to one system or indeed style. If you are not doing well, that is immediately jumped upon as not having an identity and maybe not knowing what your best team or system is. But if you are winning enough games then the same coaching ideology is applauded for being creative and willing to change with plenty applauding this revolutionary spirit.I personally like that willingness to adapt to different situations and it is why today’s game will be another fascinating tactical battle. At the weekend I thought Thomas had found a way of tactically getting us out of the City stranglehold in the second half and when he made the changes of Werner and Hudson-Odoi for Pulisic and Ziyech, he was by then going for Pep’s team’s jugular.The sadness is that City scored two minutes later and sometimes you can spend the day getting the tactics right and even make the right decisions at the right times, but you still lose. There is little you can do to stop certain top players in certain spectacular moments, that just football.The next change was to shuffle the side when Mason Mount came on for Marcos Alonso, asking a new bunch of questions. This adaptability will almost certainly be needed at some point tonight and it has been noticeable that Thomas has been tweaking the shape lately, more than he did in the early days. So, has he lost faith with that original idea that brought us Champions League glory? I doubt that, in the time-honoured tradition he was considering the wise words not of the great tactical philosopher Sun Tzu, but of anyone who has ever run a kid’s football team - ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!’It still ain’t broke but running repairs have been necessary and not just because of players breaking down but also, in time you want to be able to throw in a few surprises for the opposition. That is why tonight is such an interesting encounter. Brighton will press when they can and they will change during the game and I always enjoy these cerebral, tactical battles, which is not to say it will be a dull ‘chess match’ type of game.On the other hand, if Romelu just shrugs off a couple defenders and roofs one or Jorginho has to pop one in with his hop, skip and jump penalty again, then forget the tactics, we will not mind for a moment.

This is the business end of the Premier League now and just two or three more wins in quick succession and I suspect Champions League qualification will again be close to a stick-on. Too many slip-ups now and the pack could gain on us.A Tuesday night game in Brighton, coming after Man City, before Spurs, and even after making it to a national cup final, might just be as important as any this other fixture this month.