Chelsea’s top four hopes dented by Brighton
Brighton & Hove Albion 3 - 0 Chelsea
Kaoru Mitoma scored a sensational opener as Brighton loosened Chelsea's grip on a place in the top four of the Premier League with their second win over the Stamford Bridge club within a week.
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. They are now only four points behind Manchester City in fifth. There's still a chance that finishing fifth could earn someone a Champions League place for next season.
A closer look at what happened
Mitoma set the home side on their way, superbly controlling goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen's long pass forward with a fantastic touch. He then cut inside Trevoh Chalobah and curling a low effort past Filip Jorgensen into the right corner of the Chelsea net.
A Brighton win never looked in doubt from that point. They deservedly recorded their first home league win since November 9th.
It wasn't look before it was 2-0. Yankuba Minteh scored with a low close-range effort after some excellent work from the attacking duo of Danny Welbeck and Georginio Rutter.
Click here for more Premier League news and stories from European Super Football
The away side dominated possession at times but they struggled to create many clear-cut opportunities against Fabian Hurzeler's side aside from an early Cole Palmer effort that flashed wide. There was also a Enzo Fernandez header that was disallowed for a push on home defender Joel Veltman.
It was ultimately game over just after the hour mark. The Gambia forward Minteh rounded off the scoring for Brighton, with Chelsea, who looked shaky in defence all evening, exposed down their left as the winger drove a low effort past Jorgensen at his near post.
The highlights of the match
You can watch the best moments from this Chelsea defeat in the video below. The footage is from the Chelsea YouTube account.
Chelsea fan frustration
Lewis, a frustrated Chelsea fan, didn’t hold back: “Another utterly woeful display from Chelsea. Maresca has drilled the players to play in just one rigid way going forward – it’s predictable, dull, and robotic. And don’t even get me started on the defence! The sooner he’s gone, the better. There’s no way we’re getting into the Champions League with him in charge.”
Click here for more Chelsea news and stories
Jonathan shared a similar sense of exasperation: “I’m tired of all this talk about a ‘project’ and Chelsea’s supposed squad depth. The club has spent millions on bang-average players. There’s not a single convincing goalkeeper, no solid centre-back partnership, and the wide forwards squander possession with endless backward passes rather than taking on defenders. None of them are a real goal threat beyond the predictable cut inside and shoot – which every defender can see coming! And as for a proper striker? We still don’t have one.”
Can Brighton fans dream of Europe again?
A fantastic night for Brighton. eurosuperfootball.blogspot.com
— European Super Football (@superfootball.bsky.social) 15 February 2025 at 11:34
[image or embed]
Jamie, a Brighton fan, was thrilled with both the performance and the result. “Another win over Chelsea in the space of a week – what a result! That was probably our best 90 minutes since the start of the season. Everyone’s talking about how poor Chelsea were, but not enough credit is being given to how well we played, keeping them at arm’s length throughout. And we did it with barely 30% possession, punishing them on the break. Is this our new way of playing?”
