Brighton & Hove Albion handed Chelsea a heavy loss with a 3-0 victory in the Premier League, their second win over the Blues in fewer than seven days. Seagulls were inspired by a moment of brilliance from Kaoru Mitoma and a Yankuba Minteh brace.
Chelsea’s difficulties were apparent from the off, with Cole Palmer missing two early opportunities and Noni Madueke forced to leave the game with injury after 21 minutes. Brighton took full advantage shortly after that, as Mitoma controlled Bart Verbruggen’s long pass superbly and curled home a brilliant opener.
Enzo Fernández believed he had equalized, but his goal was disallowed for a foul on Joël Veltman. Brighton doubled their advantage as Levi Colwill’s deflected clearance landed at the feet of Danny Welbeck, who set up Minteh to finish with poise. Welbeck linked up with the Gambian youngster, before the 20-year-old fired past Filip Jörgensen with a deflected effort for his second in the 63rd minute.
Even with Brighton leaving it late, Chelsea had no response and so the away game went on, in which they failed to win for the sixth time in their last seven domestic outings, now with only two league victories to show from eight. The frustration was writ large on Palmer’s face as Brighton celebrated a long-overdue home win that gave them confidence in the top-half battle.
