Brighton & Hove Albion 3 – 0 Chelsea
This time the perpetrators used ft, sweat and soccer balls, not tommy weapons and pistols. They wore blue and white stripes, not police officer’s blues.
What a curious fortnight and some Brighton has had. Two weeks in the past they have been embarrassed in a 7-0 blowout to Nottingham Forest. The next week within the FA Cup they pulled a mini-upset by toppling Chelsea 2-1. Six days later, on Valentine’s Day, that they had a second date with Chelsea. This one went even higher than the primary, Brighton having their method with a Chelsea crew that was so lifeless Enzo Maresca was calling for the defibrillator.
Limp Up Entrance
To be truthful, Chelsea confirmed a semblance of effort within the first half, trying six photographs. Cole Palmer sadly set the tone when his 4th minute effort tried to seek out the higher tier of the stands. The remainder of Chelsea adopted his lead. They mustered solely two efforts within the second half, eight in complete and ZERO on body. That was the primary time in almost 4 years that had occurred. Followers will level out that Enzo Fernández did rating off a cross, and possibly rail that these two arms within the defender’s again simply previous to his header have been a therapeutic massage, not a push. However the referee would have none of that, and the objective didn’t stand.
Large Open in Again
On the defensive aspect, it wasn’t a lot prettier. Brighton’s first objective got here off a Bart Verbruggen lengthy ball that Kaoru Mitoma masterfully managed, pivoting himself inside Trevor Chalobah after which lashing it house. Yankuba Minteh doubled the lead after taking a Danny Welbeck faucet, dribbling up the field a wee bit after which popping the ball to the within nook.
Levi Colwill’s giveaway handed Brighton their third. Colwill went to floor so simply from the slightest strain even the referee laughed at him whereas waving him to rise up. Welbeck as soon as once more delivered a superbly timed go to Minteh, whose shot deflected off Chalobah and into the online. Trevor had a tough evening and might be wishing Chelsea brass had left him at Palace – a crew that may beat the Seagulls. If Brighton gamers hadn’t been contaminated by Chelseaitis, skying completely good efforts, the rating may have been greater.
It’s an outdated adage in soccer that the toughest factor to do is beat the identical crew in back-to-back fixtures. We have to put an asterisk subsequent to that… *until you play Chelsea.
