Chelsea vs Brighton - Pre-season friendly: TV channel, team news, lineups & prediction
- Chelsea & Brighton kick off the Premier League Summer Series
- The two clubs remain locked in talks over Moises Caicedo's future
- Brighton failed with several bids to re-sign defender Levi Colwill
By Tom Gott
The Moises Caicedo derby takes place in the early hours of Sunday morning as Chelsea take on Brighton in a pre-season friendly.
On the pitch, the two teams are looking to step up their preparations for the coming campaign, but this is growing into somewhat of a boardroom rivalry behind the scenes as club officials continue to butt heads over transfer dealings.
Chelsea are pushing for Caicedo, who is part of the Brighton squad, and have rebuffed the Seagulls' attempts to land Levi Colwill, who could make his unofficial debut for the Blues against the club who helped make him famous. Did somebody say narrative?
Here's all you need to know about this one.
Where are Chelsea vs Brighton playing?
- Location: Philadelphia, United States
- Stadium: Lincoln Financial Field
- Date: Sunday 23 July*
- Kick-off Time: 00:00 BST / 19:00 ET* / 16:00 PT*
*Game will be played on Saturday 22 July local time
Chelsea team news
Mauricio Pochettino declined to use most of his senior stars for the five-goal drubbing of Wrexham but will likely look to step up their involvement here, with centre-back Colwill one of many players who should return in some capacity.
Right-back Reece James has also linked up with the squad after delaying his involvement due to illness, but Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Armando Broja and Marcus Bettinelli all remain unavailable.
Chelsea predicted lineup vs Brighton
(4-2-3-1): Kepa; Gusto, Silva, Colwill, Chilwell; Fernandez, Santos; Angelo, Nkunku, Maatsen; Jackson
Brighton team news
Jeremy Sarmiento and Jakub Moder are injury absentees, and Roberto De Zerbi is also without transfer wantaways Robert Sanchez, Aaron Connolly and Andi Zeqiri, who have been left at home to figure out their futures.
All eyes will be on Caicedo, who is available for this game but will definitely face questioning from De Zerbi over his state of mind before any selection decisions are made. If the Ecuadorian international's head is already at Stamford Bridge, expect him to miss out.
Brighton predicted lineup vs Chelsea
(4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Veltman, Dunk, Webster, Estupinan; Gilmour, Dahoud; March, Lallana, Mitoma; Ferguson
Chelsea vs Brighton score prediction
Chelsea's heavy hitters don't have a whole lot of match minutes in their legs but have been hard at work behind the scenes, and so they may be deceptively fit for this stage of pre-season.
Expect a bit of grit in this fixture, with Chelsea battling hard to show Caicedo that the grass truly is greener on the other side and Brighton doing their best to prove they can hang with elite opposition these days.
Ultimately, it's a pre-season fixture that prioritises fitness over anything else, but Chelsea will definitely work hard to secure victory.