Chelsea defender Levi Colwill is ready to face his former teammates tonight against Brighton.

Colwill spent last season on-loan at Chelsea's Carabao Cup opponents.

"Playing against old mates… when you step onto the pitch, it changes," he says in tonight's Chelsea matchday programme. "It goes from playing against mates to rivalry. At the end of the day, you both want to win.

"Having done that already against them in pre-season has helped me a lot and when we go into this game, we'll hopefully do the same thing – go on to win and get into the next round. Of course, they're a good team but we can definitely beat them."

On choosing to return to Chelsea, Colwill also revealed: "This is my home.

"When I was speaking to the gaffer in the summer, I just wanted to know, 'If I train well and get the chance, and take it, will I be considered as a first-team Chelsea player and not just a player from the Academy?'

"And he said, 'Yeah, of course, if you do the right things, you're going to get a chance. Everyone's got a chance'.

"That was music to my ears because then it's down to me at the end of the day. If I do well, I play. If I don't do well, I don't play. That's how football should work. It's simple as.

"To then come back here after pre-season and play the first five Premier League games is something I could only have dreamed of."