Poyet to welcome Di Matteo

Former Chelsea team-mates Gus Poyet and Roberto Di Matteo will be on opposite sides of the fence this afternoon.

The pair formed a strong partnership in the Chelsea midfield when teaming up in the late 1990's, and now, over a decade later find themselves directing operations from the sidelines. Chelsea boss Di Matteo takes his side to the south coast this afternoon to play a Brighton side preparing for another promotion-capping season, this time to the Premier League. Seagulls manager Gus Poyet says he will use a number of squad players against the Champions League winners, while Di Matteo will have to do without five main players due to the Olympic Games. It promises to be a friendly in every sense of the word when the match kicks off at 3.00pm, according to the Chelsea boss. "Gus is a good friend of mine, and we have been since the first day we played together at this club,' he revealed. "I've been following his career and he's been following mine. We talk a lot and it's always interesting when we do. "He has a very good idea of how he wants his teams to play and we share a lot of opinions, to play football the right way." "We go out sometimes so we are always speaking over dinner and we can have a glass of wine any time," Di Matteo added.