After knocking Chelsea out of the FA CUP on Saturday, Brighton confirmed to have mastered the art of dealing with the Blues’ as they again beat them 3-0 in the Premier League on a Friday night.
Brighton picked up from where they had left in the FA and continued the rhythm in the Premier League on a high note destabilising Chelsea on a three-goal thriller.
Japan forward Mitoma helped set the hosts on their way by expertly controlling a long pass from goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen with a delicate touch. He then cut inside Trevoh Chalobah and curled a low shot past Filip Jorgensen into the right corner of the Chelsea net.
Yankuba Minteh added their second before the break with a low close-range effort after some excellent work from the impressive attacking duo of Danny Welbeck and Georginio Rutter.
Although Chelsea dominated possession for much of the match, they found it difficult to create clear scoring chances against Fabian Hurzeler’s team. Their best opportunities came from an early shot by Cole Palmer that went wide and an Enzo Fernandez header that was disallowed due to a push on home defender Joel Veltman.
Gambia forward Minteh scored Brighton’s final goal just after the hour mark. Chelsea, who appeared shaky in defence throughout the match, was caught out on their left side as the winger cut in and drove a low shot past Jorgensen at his near post.
“The performance is not one you want to offer so we are very upset and sorry for the fans that were here,” Maresca said.
The result means the Seagulls, who also knocked Enzo Maresca’s side out of the FA Cup last Saturday, move up to eighth in the table, four points adrift of Manchester City in fifth.
City, Newcastle and Bournemouth, who all have a game in hand, have the opportunity to leapfrog Chelsea if they win on Saturday.
