Chelsea drop to seventh after Brighton thrashing
by Kickoff Reporter · KickOffChelsea's hopes of securing a UEFA Champions League spot suffered another blow after going down 3-0 to Brighton and Hove Albion on Tuesday night.
Blues coach Liam Rosenior was without the services of top scorers Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer, as Romeo Lavia and Trevor Chalobah were recalled to the starting line-up following the loss to Manchester United the weekend.
The visitors got off to a horrible start after Ferdi Kadioglu rifled the ball home from close range for his first league goal since 2024 after the visitors were unable to deal with a corner.
Brighton were eager to add more goals as the first half went on and they went agonizingly close when goalkeeper Robert Sanchez gifted the ball to the visitors, but Jack Hinshelwood saw his goal-bound strike cleared on the line by Chalobah.
As for the Blues, chances were extremely hard to come by in the first half as they struggled to get the ball off Brighton for most of the opening 45 minutes, with striker Liam Delap spending the first chasing shadows.
Even with a change of approach in the second half by going back to a back-four, Brighton doubled their lead as a swift counter-attack ended with Georginio Rutter playing in Hinshelwood, who calmly slotted past Sanchez.
Rosenior made a double change for the final 20 minutes as Delap and Lavia were brought off, with Marc Guiu and Dario Essugo brought on to help the side freshen up their midfield and attack.
However, it would be a substitute for Brighton that would make the impact Danny Welbeck got his 13th goal of the campaign by turning home a cross from Maxim de Cuyper to round off a big win for the Seagulls, who overtake Chelsea and move into sixth position.
The Blues have now lost five league games in a row without a scoring a single goal.