Friday night flings have proved fruitful for the Londoners, with three wins, two draws, no losses and five clean sheets across all competitions on this day of the week since September 2016.

Until Saturday’s FA Cup defeat, it also seemed that Cupid’s arrow had produced the perfect date for the Blues. Brighton had lost 67 per cent of their home games against the Londoners, and that was their first home win since November.

The last league visitors to leave the Amex with no points, though, were Manchester City, six games ago. Crystal Palace and, most recently, Everton, both took maximum points against Fabian Hurzeler’s mid-table team.

A rebound will be on Chelsea fans’ lips as we return to the South Coast. Both teams acquired knowledge they can now apply in the quest for three points.

Enzo Maresca’s side, who will fortify fourth place with a win, have retrieved losing positions in seven top-flight games so far this season (three wins, four draws) – the best recovery record after leaders Liverpool.

Those seven include Brighton at the Bridge as well as West Ham United last time out in the league. Having already beaten the Hammers and Wolverhampton Wanderers home and away, Chelsea can complete a third double this evening, with a fourth successive Premier League success against the Seagulls.

Team news

Maresca is assessing his options in attack after confirming that Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu will both be unavailable to face Brighton due to injury, with Christopher Nkunku the most obvious replacement, but other solutions also in the Italian's thinking.

‘Nico is injured and will be out until the international break,’ Enzo confirmed at his pre-match press conference. ‘Probably he will be back after the international break.

‘His reaction was good, so we didn’t think it was going to be a big injury. Unfortunately, he had a scan which has shown the injury, and he will be out for six to eight weeks.

‘Guiu will also be out for a while. He has a muscle problem, a hamstring issue as well, and will be out for a little while.

‘Because of Nico and Marc’s situation, we are working and trying to find different solutions. Christo could be one of the solutions, but it’s not the only solution. It can be Christo, as he played the last game, and also different kind of players.'

Enzo also confirmed that Chelsea skipper Reece James is in contention to feature against Brighton this time around, despite not being involved in last week's knockout meeting.

‘Reece is okay. He was rested against Brighton in the FA Cup, this was planned to give him a rest. He’s had a bit more rest in the last few days, but he is okay to be involved tonight. We are very happy to have Reece with us.’

The history

Earlier this season at Stamford Bridge, although Chelsea conceded first to Brighton in September, it was very much Cole Palmer’s day, the Wythenshawe wonder claiming all four in our 4-2 victory.

Among current Premier League rivals, the Blues have the highest rate of success away to the Seagulls, with a win percentage of 67 - ahead of 62 per cent at Fulham, 57 per cent at Crystal Palace and 56 per cent Bournemouth.

The Sussex side are the Londoners’ fifth-most-recent new league opponents, our first pursuit of three points at their old Goldstone Ground beginning in September 1983 in Division Two. Summer signing Kerry Dixon notched his fourth and fifth goals from our opening three games in a 2-1 win, despite Paul Canoville being sent off after fronting up to an Albion aggressor.

In seven top-flight visits since, the Blues have recorded four wins, two draws and just the one loss – on Graham Potter’s return to his former lair in October 2022.

Our biggest margin of victory in the league remains the Eden Hazard-inspired 4-0, recorded this month in 2018. A Blues side missing many key players downed Brighton early on, with goals for the incisive Belgian and Willian, before the No10’s fine run and shot made it 3-0. Victor Moses added the fourth.

Last season, this was the penultimate fixture, during the purple patch of the Mauricio Pochettino era. Cole Palmer headed his 22nd league goal, fed by former Seagull Marc Cucurella, and another low cross, from Malo Gusto, supplied Christopher Nkunku’s tap-in. That would prove to be the winner in a 2-1 victory. Reece James was controversially dismissed late on and Danny Welbeck briefly capitalised on the numerical advantage.

Know this...

Palmer scored four goals in the reverse fixture against Brighton in September. The most a Chelsea player has scored against a single Premier League opponent in one season is five, achieved by Gianluca Vialli against Barnsley (1997/98), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink against Tottenham Hotspur (2001/02) and Diego Costa against Swansea City (2014/15).

Palmer’s 36 Premier League goals for the Blues place him one shy of breaking into Chelsea’s all-time top 10 scorers in the competition. He’s currently 11th, level with Salomon Kalou, Gustavo Poyet and John Spencer.

Teams facing Brighton have a shot conversion rate of 13.9 per cent (38 goals from 273 efforts), the third-highest in the Premier League, behind Wolves (15.7 per cent) and Manchester City (14.5 per cent).

This is the latest into a season the Blues have occupied a top-four slot since finishing third in 2021/22.

Since an eight-game winning run across all competitions, Chelsea have recorded three wins, three draws and four defeats.

West Ham 12 days ago was the Blues’ first comeback victory having trailed at home in the league at half-time since the 3-1 win against Southampton on 1 December 2013.

Brighton’s 7-0 loss to Nottingham Forest was the 11th occurrence of that scoreline in the Premier League, including two handed out by Chelsea – against Stoke City in April 2010 and Norwich City in October 2021.