14 February 2025
Brighton 3 Chelsea 0
Fabian Hurzeler’s side welcomed Chelsea to the Amex Stadium, hoping to repeat their recent victory in the FA Cup over The Blues. Enzo Maresca’s side needed to find some form on the road as they looked to stay ahead of Man City and Newcastle in the race for fourth spot. Recent injuries have depleted the West London outfit in the striking department, giving Nkunku a rare chance to impress.
Chelsea started the match looking dangerous on the counter-attack. As a move from the hosts broke down, Gusto used his pace down the flank to leave Hinshelwood for dead. He picked out Palmer in the middle, who shifted it onto his left-foot and looked to get a shot away. Sadly his effort sailed well over the target, not troubling Verbruggen whatsoever.
Both sides were struggling to create clear-cut chances but the visitors were looking dangerous with their pace down the flanks. Nkunku did well to keep the ball in play and feed it to Madueke. He got to the byline and cut it back to Palmer in the box but as he opened up his body, looking to pass it into the far corner, he sliced it wide of the target.
Usually such an integral part to everything The Blues do well, Palmer was not looking his usual self in front of goal. One thing with Maresca’s side, they rarely do well without their talisman firing on all cylinders. The visitors were dominating possession but had nothing to show for it, the Brighton keeper had next to nothing to do in this game up until this point.
Then came the moment that was to change this entire match. Verbruggen kicked downfield and Mitoma plucked the ball out of the air with a sublime control. He cut inside onto his right foot and bent a shot from outside the box into the bottom corner of the goal. Questions will be asked whether Jorgensen should have done better but no one in the Amex Stadium was complaining.
The Blues started to ask some questions of the hosts defensively. However, their shooting left a lot to be desired as they failed to work the keeper. Eventually, some nice passing in the final third saw the ball whipped in from out wide for Fernandez to head home. There was no time to celebrate as it was immediately ruled out for a push on the defender. Despite the player’s protests, the replay suggested it was the correct decision.
The visitors looked a complete shambles in defence. This has been a regular feature of this Chelsea team, even during their good run of form at the start of the season. If you high press The Blues and give them no time on the ball, they cannot cope and are full of errors. The more The Seagulls used this tactic, the more joy they were getting.
Mitoma skipped past some challenges in the box, before cutting it back from the byline. As the visitors failed to deal with it, the ball broke to Rutter on the back post. He side stepped the sliding challenge of Cucurella and drilled his shot into the back of the net. The Seagulls had managed to double their lead before the break.
After the interval, Brighton grew in confidence. That said, there are not many teams in the country who would not be buoyed by Chelsea’s shambolic defending. Colwill tried to bring the ball out and passed it straight to the hosts. Minteh fed the ball into Welbeck, who neatly threaded a pass through the defence back to the winger.
He took it around Cucurella all too easily once again and beat Jorgensen at his near post to put the game to bed with half an hour still to play. The talk all too often is how young this Chelsea team is and how they will blossom into a wonderful team in years to come. That is unlikely, most of these players are lacking the basic attributes required of footballers at this level.
What will be most worrying for Maresca is the lack of fight in his team. At no point after conceding did they try to step things up a gear to change the course of the game. It was all too easy for a Brighton side missing their most important defender. George took on Lamptey and beat him but then tried a shot from a ridiculous angle when there were better options available to him.
The Seagulls countered with pace and Mitoma had all the time and space the Amex Stadium had to offer. Chelsea’s defenders continuously backed off him, allowing him to run from the halfway line all the way through to goal. Fortunately for the visitors, on this occasion his finishing was poor as he drilled a shot straight at Jorgensen.
Things almost got worse for The Blues as Joao Pedro ran at the defence down the left. Eventually, the ball was lifted over the top for Veltman to run onto. As Jorgensen looked to close him down, he got a shot away, only to see his effort come back off the post. It looked like men against boys whenever Brighton came forward in this match.
Over the duration of the game, the closest Chelsea came to scoring was when George crossed from the byline and Webster sent the ball heading towards his own goal. Fortunately for The Seagulls Verbruggen made a fantastic reaction save to divert it wide with his legs. It seemed fitting for the hosts to keep their clean sheet intact in a match they had dominated so much.
It was a dreadful performance from Maresca’s side as they were completely outplayed by Brighton. Considering the West London outfit had ransacked The Seagulls for players, coaches and even a manager over recent years it was in fact the hosts who looked a better side. Victory moved Hurzeler’s team to tenth in the Premier League table.
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