Head-to-head

Chelsea’s most recent win over the Seagulls came at Stamford Bridge in September 2024, when Cole Palmer scored a 10-minute first-half hat-trick — and four goals in total — to inspire a 4-2 victory.

In the corresponding fixture at Stamford Bridge last September, two stoppage-time goals by Danny Welbeck and Maxim De Cuyper secured a 3-1 win for Brighton after Enzo Fernandez opened the scoring in the first half. Trevoh Chalobah was sent off after 53 minutes for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity when we were winning 1-0.

Chelsea are looking to prevent Brighton winning four consecutive Premier League games and five in all competitions against us for the first time.

The Seagulls have scored three goals in each of their last three Premier League matches against Chelsea. Our summer signing Welbeck scored three of them.

Head-to-head (all competitions)

Played: 28
Won: 16
Drawn: 5
Lost: 7

Last five meetings at Stamford Bridge

15 April 2023 Premier League L 2-1 Gallagher
27 September 2023 League Cup W 1-0 Jackson
3 December 2023 Premier League W 3-2 Fernandez 2 (1 pen), Colwill
28 September 2024 Premier League W 4-2 Palmer 4 (1 pen)
27 September 2025 Premier League L 3-1 Fernandez

Biggest win for each team:

Brighton 0-4 Chelsea 2017/18 Premier League
Chelsea 4-0 Brighton 1966/67 FA Cup
Brighton 4-1 Chelsea 2022/23 Premier League
Chelsea's biggest home Premier League win against Brighton was 3-0 in 2018/19

Chelsea stats

Having beaten Luton Town on Thursday, Chelsea are going for three consecutive wins for the first time since January (a run of five).

Xabi Alonso is the first Chelsea manager since Antonio Conte in 2016 to win his opening two competitive matches.

Morgan Rogers against Fulham and Danny Welbeck against Luton became the 92nd and 93rd players to score on their Chelsea debut, and the first since Axel Disasi against Liverpool in August 2023.

Chelsea have won 20 of our previous 34 opening home games of a Premier League season, drawing 10 and losing four. The Blues have won our first home league game of the season once in the past seven campaigns (four draws, two defeats), beating Crystal Palace 3-0 in 2021/22.

Chelsea (120.1km) and Fulham (121.1km) covered more ground than any other Premier League teams on matchweek one.

Chelsea have conceded in each of our last 17 Premier League matches, our longest league run without a clean sheet since a 17-game sequence in the old First Division, between March and August 1991. We last went longer without a league clean sheet in August 1961 (31 games). Our last Premier League clean sheet was against Brentford at Stamford Bridge on 17 January.

Joao Pedro has more goals and assists (13) than any other Premier League forward since the start of 2026.

Cole Palmer won possession more times than any other player on the opening weekend of the Premier League season (seven).

Palmer and Rogers created four chances for one another against Fulham, the most of any duo in the opening round of Premier League matches.

If selected, Welbeck will become the first player ever to make a Premier League appearance for each of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.

Welbeck leads the scoring in Premier League meetings between Chelsea and Brighton with six goals, one ahead of Palmer.

Milestone

Palmer needs two goals to reach 50 league goals for Chelsea. He will become the 28th player to reach the milestone for the club and the ninth in the Premier League era.

Brighton stats

Last season

Premier League: Eighth with 53 points
FA Cup: Lost 3-0 at Liverpool in the fourth round
League Cup: Lost 2-0 at Arsenal in the fourth round
Top scorer: Danny Welbeck 14

Last season's Premier League stats

Most minutes played: Verbruggen 3,420, Van Hecke 3,211, Kadioglu 3,134
Most goals: Welbeck 13, Gomez 5
Most assists: Minteh 4
Most duels won: Van Hecke 209, Gomez 162, Minteh 162
Clean sheets: Verbruggen 10
Most fouls conceded: Gomez 48, Hinshelwood 33, Minteh 32
Most clearances: Van Hecke 189, Dunk 142, Kadioglu 81
Most yellow cards: Dunk 10, Gomez 9, Van Hecke 9
Red cards: None

Brighton have won their opening away league game in six of the last seven campaigns, although they did lose their first game on the road last season at Everton.

In beating Aston Villa on Sunday, Brighton were the fastest team ever to go 4-0 up in a Premier League opener, reaching that score after 31 minutes. They had 73 per cent possession and 21 shots, six on target, while preventing Aston Villa from registering a shot on target in a Premier League match for the first time since 2022.

Brighton are seeking their first away Premier League win since beating Burnley on 11 April, having drawn one and lost two away games since.

The Seagulls had the 14th best away record in the competition last season with 20 points from their 19 matches.

Brighton have won only three of their past 21 Premier League games in London, drawing eight and losing 10, and have conceded exactly twice in four of their last five matches in the capital.

Goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was the only Brighton player to play every minute of their Premier League games last term.

Welbeck and Joao Pedro have either scored or assisted seven of Brighton’s last 13 Premier League goals against Chelsea (54 per cent) - Welbeck with three goals and two assists, Joao Pedro with one of each.

On Thursday, Fabian Hurzeler made two changes to his weekend line-up as Brighton beat Tromso 4-0, completing a 4-0 aggregate win to reach the league phase of the UEFA Conference League.

Fabian Hurzeler's managerial record against Chelsea

Won 4
Drawn 0
Lost 1

2026/27 Brighton results

Tromso (Conference League, a) D 0-0
Aston Villa (h) W 4-0
Tromso (Conference League, h) W 4-0

Last Premier League line-up

Brighton & Hove Albion 4-0 Aston Villa
Sunday 23 August
Team (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Wieffer (Yohanna 78), Vuskovic, Dunk (c), Boscagli; Gross, Ayari (Costinha 64); Gomez (Yalcouye 86), Hinshelwood (Kostoulas 64), De Cuyper (Osman 78); Rutter
Scorers: Lindelof og 8, De Cuyper 18, Hinshelwood 30, 31

Discipline

There are no suspensions.

Match officials

Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistants: Stuart Burt, James Mainwaring
Fourth official: Tom Bramall
VAR: Andrew Kitchen
Assistant VAR: Paul Howard

Michael Oliver refereed four Chelsea matches last season, the most recent was our 1-0 home defeat to Manchester United in April.