Brighton vs Chelsea Tactical Preview Premier League 2018/19: Hazard to be given free roam

With Chelsea securing a win against then-league leaders Manchester City, who are now behind Liverpool, Maurizio Sarri is ready to set the fixture as a catalyst to climb the Premier League table. The upcoming trip to Brighton will prove Sarris hope in Chelsea stepping up the performance curve.

In this piece, an analysis of tactical preview is presented for Brighton vs Chelsea fixture. The tactical analysis preview highlights the strengths and weaknesses of Chelsea against Brighton. The preview analysis also explains the expected strategy to be played by each team and the ever-important role of Eden Hazard in counter-pressing Brightons defence in a pure tactical fashion.

Brighton to sit back

Brighton & Hove Albion are among the teams which like to sit back and defend. The team plays with defensive formations ranging from 4-1-4-1 to 4-4-1-1. Brighton may use the 4-1-4-1 formation against Chelsea to have three midfielders pressing Jorginho including Propper who would play as a buffer in front of the backline. Brightons defensive formations in their own half as shown in the pictures below may serve as a tight barrier to Chelseas attacking plays.

Not only do Brighton play defensively flat to block all the potential passing lanes, but the defensive stats of the team is also strong. The team won 72.4% of the defensive duels this season on average. Comparing to Chelsea, the stats are better in relative terms too as the Blues won only 59% of the defensive duels on average this season.

Chelsea to play direct

Given Chelseas recent success in playing on transitions, Sarris men seem ready to confidently play and convert direct attacks into scoring opportunities. Specifically, Luizs long passing and distribution skills can play a key role in thread-passing the wide defence line of Brighton. The same approach helped the Blues against Manchester City last weekend.

Another area to exploit