Premier League confirm Brighton & Chelsea official decision after Declan Rice controversy
Referee takes charge of Brighton for the first time since controversial incident against Arsenal
The match officials have been confirmed as Brighton, for the second time in six days, welcome Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea to the Amex Stadium.
The Seagulls were impressive last Saturday night against the Blues as they battled back from a goal down to advance to the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 2-1 victory.
This Friday at 8pm, Brighton will look for a repeat of that performance as they hope to return to winning ways in the Premier League.
Fabian Hurzeler’s team are 10th in the table following their 7-0 hammering at Nottingham Forest, while Chelsea are fourth and chasing the Champions League spots this season.
"I'm sure it will be a different challenge next week and we have to prepare for that,” said Brighton boss Hurzeler after the FA Cup win. “ We have to get the same mindset like today and then I'm sure that we can prove it again. We can beat every team in this league.”
Premier League Confirm match officials
Chris Kavanagh will be the man in the middle at the Amex Stadium. It’s the first time the 39-year-old has taken charge of a Brighton match since the 1-1 draw against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium last August. Kavanagh made headlines that day as he showed Arsenal’s Declan Rice a second yellow card following a clash with Brighton’s Joel Veltman.
Rice was adjudged to have kicked the ball away which prevented Veltman from taking a quick free kick. Nine minutes later Albion’s Joao Pedro equalised a Kai Havertz opener.
"I was amazed," said Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta at the time. “Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be. In the first half, there are two incidents and nothing happens.”
Kavanagh has refereed 23 games in all competition so far this season and has issued 128 yellows and four red cards.
Match officials: Referee: Chris Kavanagh. Assistants: Lee Betts, Mark Scholes. Fourth official: Stuart Attwell. VAR: Michael Oliver. Assistant VAR: Ian Hussin.
VAR returns for Premier League clash
VAR was not in operation for Brighton’s FA Cup win against Chelsea but returns for Friday’s Premier League clash. Maresca bemoaned the lack of VAR in the FA Cup clash as he felt there was a handball in build-up to Kaoru Mitoma’s winner from Brighton defender Tariq Lamptey. Afterwards, Maresca said football is "complicated" without VAR.
"I think the handball is quite clear. In the last two or three days there were many different moments in different games. Without VAR it's complicated."
Brighton boss Hurzeler had no issue with the winner. “First of all, I was convinced that the goal counts because there's not a VAR, so you can celebrate it in a different way.”
Despite the complaints from Chelsea, even if VAR had been in place, the goal would have stood as Lamptey's “handball” was deemed accidental and it was Mitoma, not Lamptey, that put the ball into the net.
For your next Albion read: Lewis Dunk, Solly March & Ferdi Kadioglu: Brighton injury list & expected return dates ahead of Chelsea