Brighton defeated Chelsea for the second time in six days, this time with a 3-0 victory over a lackluster Chelsea side that failed to register a single shot on target.
The Seagulls took the lead in the 27th minute through a stunning strike from Kaoru Mitoma. The Japanese international controlled a pass from Bart Verbruggen, dribbled past Trevoh Chalobah, and found the back of the net.
Chelsea thought they had equalized in the 36th minute when Enzo Fernández scored, but the goal was cancelled due to a foul by Fernández on Joël Veltman in the box.
Eleven minutes later, Yankuba Minteh doubled Brighton’s advantage. Georginio Rutter dazzled through Chelsea’s defence before passing to Danny Welbeck, who set up Minteh perfectly. The Gambian forward made no mistake, putting the ball past Filip Jörgensen.
Minteh completed his brace 18 minutes after the restart, combining smoothly with Welbeck before putting the ball in the back of the net to seal the three points for Brighton.
The result means Chelsea has not won an away game since December 12, when they defeated Astana in the UEFA Europa Conference League. The Blues have managed just two wins in their last nine Premier League matches.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca did not hide his disappointment, he described the performance as mediocre.
“Worst performance since I arrived,” Maresca admitted.
“We feel really sorry for the fans. Fourteen games to go, and we need to do much, much better than what we showed tonight,” he added.
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