Enzo Maresca has made four changes to his Chelsea starting XI for league fixture at Brighton

The Seagulls were victorious in last weekend’s FA Cup fourth-round duel, with Kaoru Mitoma scoring the winning goal to pile more misery on the Blues.

Enzo Maresca’s side have now won just three of their last ten matches in all competitions, none of which have come away from the comfort of Stamford Bridge.

Despite their recent frustrations, Chelsea did climb up to fourth in the Premier League table when they beat West Ham United in their most recent league fixture. Victory on the south coast will guarantee they stay there for another week.

Brighton will be hoping to soak up the adoration of the home crowd on Valentine’s Day, aiming to recover from successive Premier League defeats – including the 7-0 humiliation at Nottingham Forest. Should they secure all three points on Friday, they would move into eighth ahead of the weekend’s fixtures.

Brighton are sweating on the fitness of integral centre-back Lewis Dunk ahead of Chelsea’s return to the Amex Stadium, with the defender suffering a rib injury in last weekend’s FA Cup duel. He’s a doubt for Friday.

Mats Wieffer could return from injury against the Blues, however, having been missing since before Christmas with a thigh injury.

The quintet of Jason Steele, Pervis Estupinan, Ferdi Kadioglu, Igor and James Milner are all expected to miss out.

Brighton predicted lineup vs Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Veltman, Van Hecke, Webster, Lamptey; Baleba, Ayari; Minteh, Rutter, Mitoma; Pedro.

Chelsea have been dealt a significant injury blow with Nicolas Jackson expected to be absent until after the March international break with a hamstring injury. Fellow forward Marc Guiu is also missing for the foreseeable future after suffering the same issue as the Senegal international.

The Blues are already without Mykhailo Mudryk in their forward line after he failed a drugs test and was subsequently suspended, while Romeo Lavia, Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana are all absent in the defensive half of the pitch.

Robert Sanchez, Marc Cucurella and Moises Caicedo all returned to the Amex Stadium last Saturday and the latter two should start again this Friday. However, Filip Jorgensen could return between the sticks.

Chelsea predicted lineup vs Brighton (4-2-3-1): Jorgensen; James, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Neto, Palmer, Sancho; Nkunku.