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Brighton Hove and Albion (10th) vs. Chelsea (4th)
Brighton now have two losses in a row in the Premier League, the first time that’s happened to them this season despite an extremely positive start. They did beat Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup last weekend thanks to a winner from Kaoru Mitoma, who hasn’t quite hit the heights that have been expected of him this season. Chelsea under Enzo Maresca has experienced up-and-down moments, but for all their inconsistency they find themselves in 4th place so far, hardly out of contention for the Champions League places. They may have to keep one eye open for Manchester City to catch up to them, but they could be favorites to take it as of now.
The Villains will look to bounce back to winning ways after going winless in their last 3 Premiership matches. Going up against Ipswich Town will be a good opportunity to rebound, as they’ve lost the last four Premier League games in a row despite some impressive FA Cup performances. ‘The Tractor Boys’ need this match to get back to the good run of form they were on after the new year, but Villa has proven to be a tricky opponent despite the departure of young sensation Jhon Duran.
Every time we see the Premier League table we get surprised to see Forest so high up, but they have deserved their position. Chris Wood (17 goals), Anthony Elanga, Morgan Gibbs-White, and Murillo have powered Forest into the position that they’re in. They proved their 5-0 loss to Bournemouth was a one-off, and responded with a 7-0 win against Brighton just a few days later. Fulham are finding some form of their own recently, and are coming off the back of two 2-1 wins in succession in both the Premier League and FA Cup. Fulham loves to dominate the ball while Forest plays quick and effective counter-attacks, so we could see an entertaining affair at Craven Cottage.
Despite having a 2-1 lead against Real Madrid in the 80th minute of the Champions League round of 32, City had their hearts broken by former player Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham combining in the final six minutes of the game to record a 3-2 win for Madrid. It seems like the type of ‘gut punch’ result that would sour motivation. For Newcastle, it seems like anything Alexander Isak touches turns to gold, although they’ve had some up-and-down results by beating Arsenal 2-0 one week, but losing to Fulham the week before. This may be a game where recent form and momentum will carry one team over the other.
Graham Potter at West Ham, so far, has seen little to no improvement. Since taking over on January 9th, West Ham has won one game in the last five in all competitions. Clearly, the fabled ‘new manager bounce’ has evaded Potter at West Ham. Thankfully for the Hammers, they have around a 10-point lead over the relegation spots.
James Tarkowski’s last-minute equalizer sent the Everton faithful into rapturous celebrations, and they may need more than two days to recover from it. They also secured another vital point in the race to avoid relegation which, as awkward as it sounds to celebrate a 2-2 draw, may prove to be a big result later on. Crystal Palace may prove to be a tough opponent as Everton are winless in their last seven trips to London, but their last win there was against Crystal Palace in 2023. Palace have won four out of their last six, which is much welcome form for Oliver Glasner’s team who were pretty bad at the start of the season.
Things were supposed to go much better for both sides this season. Tottenham, ravaged by injuries, were supposed to kick-start their second season under Ange Postecoglou and compete for trophies but were halted by an unprecedented injury crisis that has left them with zero fit center backs. Manchester United sacked manager Erik ten Hag halfway through the season and replaced him with Sporting CP manager Ruben Amorim. You’d think a new manager would help their form, but so far appears to have had the opposite effect.
