Palmer leaves Albion feeling cold: Chelsea 4-2 Brighton photos
Cole Palmer, take a bow. Our Albion fan photos from Chelsea 4-2 Brighton record a history-making performance as the Blues striker became the first player to score four first goals in a first half of football since Sky Sports invented the sport in 1992.
In this sort of form, Palmer would have been unplayable on a normal day. Let alone on an afternoon when the Albion defence did their level best to give him and the rest of Chelsea’s forwards ample opportunities to score.
Fabian Hurzeler insisted on sticking with the defensive high line which has caused so much debate in recent weeks. With grim predictability, the pace and directness of Palmer, Jadon Sancho, Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke ended up having a field day.
Brighton actually managed to take the lead through Georginio Rutter opening his account for the Seagulls. The £40 million man beat ex-Albion goalkeeper Roberto Sanchez to an aerial ball, putting a towering header beyond the flappy Spaniard.
The lead did not last long. A terrible attempted back pass from Adam Webster put Jackson clear. He unselfishly squared to Palmer, who applied the finish.
Suddenly, the floodgates were open. Palmer next converted the penalty and then scored direct from a free kick after the high line allowed Madueke to gallop clear, drawing a foul from Pervis Estupinan in the process. A nine-minute hat-trick for Palmer.
Carlos Baleba pulled another back and hilariously, it was down to a Sanchez mistake again. His blind pass put Moises Caicedo in trouble. Baleba pressed, won possession and fired into the back of the net.
Not that the deficit was cut to one for long. Sancho slipped through a clever pass, neither Lewis Dunk nor Webster checked the run of Palmer and he ended up beating Bart Verbruggen at the near post.
A disappointing afternoon at Stamford Bridge and with Chelsea hitting the post and missing other easy chances, it could have been a lot worse than just four.
If you have any photos you would like included in our Chelsea 4-2 Brighton gallery please e-mail them to wearebrighton@hotmail.co.uk or tweet them to us @wearebrighton
