On Saturday, Chelsea’s poor Premier League season went even worse when Enzo Maresca’s team lost 3–1 to Brighton & Hove Albion at home, causing anger from both the manager and the club’s hierarchy.
The Blues looked likely to set things right after last week’s debacle against Manchester United when Enzo Fernández quickly netted a header to take the lead. But everything got reversed swiftly after Trevoh Chalobah was shown a red card for bringing down Diego Gómez at the edge of the area.
Brighton took the chance, and the game had it equalizer through Danny Welbeck scoring before scoring one of the two late goals secured a comeback win at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea remain 8th in the table, without a league victory since after the september international break. Maresca lambasted his side post-match, stating that they “kept giving away presents” which led to the defeat. He said: “You can’t go on against any team in the Premier League giving them presents.” “The red card completely shifted the game.”
There were reports of co-owner Behdad Eghbali and sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart entering the dressing room post-match adding to the drama, whereas Maresca minimized the matter as a normal incident.
This is not the end of Chelsea’s misfortunes as they will face a tough Champions League tie against Benfica, coached by José Mourinho, on Wednesday. The Portuguese manager who returned at the helm in Lisbon and started very well can’t wait to heap more pressure on Maresca by being the Chelsea’s next opponent.
