Former striker makes bizarre prediction for Chelsea – Brighton | OneFootball

Chris Sutton has just made his predictions for Chelsea against Brighton in the FA Cup, and has some interesting thoughts on the game, which serves as a warmup for our league game against the same opposition a week later.

“I think this game will be tight – I certainly don’t see Brighton capitulating the way they did at Forest, but the key thing for them is Yasin Ayari and Carlos Baleba being fit to return in midfield,” Sutton wrote for the BBC.

“Even if they both return, I still feel like Chelsea will find a way of winning the tie. It may go all the way to penalties but I am going to say Enzo Maresca’s side will win it in extra time. Prediction: 1-2 after extra time.”

It’s always a little funny to us predicting a team to win in extra time – it makes sense to predict which team you think is stronger, or if you think the teams are even and it will go to a draw. But predicting a team to win in extra time is bizarrely specific and implies you have some knowledge of one team which indicates they’ll be better in that period.

Still, we get what he means – it will be such a tight game that it could go beyond the 90, but he backs us to come out on top.

Maresca to open the throttle against Brighton

A lot will depend on the team Enzo Maresca picks. So far this season he’s rotated every cup team fully, but we think that changes now. His squad has been trimmed and we’ve got a fully week to recover after this game. There will be a couple of tweaks to protect injury prone players or keep squad players happy, but this will otherwise be a much stronger team that we’re used to seeing in the cups this season.