Brighton V Chelsea - Preview and possible lineups

Brighton: Veteran midfielder Steve Sidwell will be mssing once again for the visit of his former side after he underwent back surgery in September, with the 35-year-old expected to be sidelined for a few more months yet.

Chelsea: Antonio Conte will be without attacking duo Alvaro Morata and Pedro after they were both sent off during Wednesday's FA Cup shoot-out victory over Norwich, whilst experienced duo Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas will also miss out due to hamstring problems. New signing Ross Barkley has been included in the squad and could feature.

The thoughts of Chelsea boss Antonio Conte on potential January business:

"I give my opinion to the club but the final decision is for the club. I have to wait to see what happens. I am very calm in this aspect because I am working with my players in the right way and I am very happy for their commitment.

"If the club wants to help us we are happy, otherwise we continue in this way and give ourselves every day to give satisfaction to our fans."

"As you know, it is not right to talk about players from other teams. I am not interested in it. 

"In this moment I can talk about my players, Morata and [Michy] Batshuayi. it is not right to talk about the characteristics of other players. 

"I have always said that I'm happy to work with my players, to try to improve them. Every striker has their own characteristics, in his case Morata has this and Batshuayi has this." 

The thoughts of Brighton boss Chris Hughton on his priorities in January:

"I'm sure there will be, but we have got used to these windows where the business is mostly done at the tail end of it more than the beginning.

"Is a striker still the priority? I think it has to be. We have a competitive squad, but we have found it difficult to get the goals we need.

"We are still actively trying to bring in a centre-half and then the possibility of Connor Goldson going out on loan.

"If we are able to do that then we will."

Did you know?

Brighton have lost their last seven games against Chelsea in all competitions, failing to get on the scoresheet in six of those defeats.

Form:

Possible lineups:

Brighton: Ryan, Bruno, Duffy, Dunk, Bong, Knockaert, Stephens, Propper, Izquierdo, Gross, Murray.

Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, Moses, Kante, Bakayoko, Alonso, Willian, Batshuayi, Hazard.