Pre-season friendly preview: Brighton versus Chelsea

Premier League clubs Chelsea FC and Brighton & Hove Albion FC lock horns in a pre-season friendly at the American Express Community Stadium in Brighton, England.

With the Premier League season expected to begin within a fortnight’s time, both the clubs will be looking to get their players back in shape and ready for the start of the new season of football.

Advertisement

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a prolonged end to the last season which cut short the preparation time for clubs ahead of next season.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has been having a spending spree in the transfer market having signed stars like Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech prior to the end of last season and further adding the likes of Ben Chilwell, Malang Sarr and Thiago Silva to their squad in the last week. Chelsea are also expected to complete the signing of German wonderkid Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen within the coming weeks.

A friendly against a competitive premier league team in Brighton would be very well suited for Frank Lampard to analyse his new signings and get to know his new players a little better. It would also be good for a number of Chelsea players to regain their match fitness before the start of the new season.

On the other hand, Brighton boss Graham Potter would be eager to see his new signings Joel Veltman and Adam Lallana on the pitch. Brighton would also be keen to have a look at their center-back Ben White who spent the last season on loan at Leeds United. Ben White impressed a number of people last season and drew a lot of attention from a number of premier league teams as he featured very regulary under Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds.

The match would certainly lack the intensity of a premier league game, however with both clubs having made exciting new signings it promises to be a gripping game of football.