History made at Stamford Bridge: Chelsea 1-2 Brighton photos
Graham Potter loved a history lesson so it was a real shame he had been sacked before the Albion won a league game at Stamford Bridge for the first time. Thankfully, rather a lot of photos were taken during Chelsea 1-2 Brighton and so if Glow Up does want to experience the day, he can do so right here.
This was perhaps the best Albion performance of the Roberto De Zerbi era so far and there is some stiff competition for that. Brighton have beaten Liverpool 3-0, West Ham 4-0 and of course hammered Chelsea 4-1 in the October meeting between these sides at the Amex.
The only reason this was not an equally heavy defeat for the Blues was because of Kepa Arrizabalaga. The Chelsea goalkeeper pulled off a string of excellent saves without which Brighton could have ran up a cricket score from their 26 shots, 10 of which were on target.
That is a sign of the dominance the Albion enjoyed. De Zerbi’s side recorded 57 percent possession, totally outplaying a Blues starting XI which cost £446.5 million more than Brighton’s.
It was against the run of play when Chelsea took the lead with 14 minutes on the clock. Connor Gallagher hit one from outside the box which took a heavy deflection off Lewis Dunk on its way to evading Robert Sanchez in the Albion goal.
Brighton then suffered two injury blows as Joel Vetlman and Evan Ferguson limped out of the action. Julio Enciso and Danny Welbeck took over and both would go onto play vital roles in the Seagulls’ comeback.
Welbeck headed in the equaliser from a Pascal Gross cross just seven minutes after coming off the bench. That set the stage for Enciso to score a second half winner via one of the Goals of the Season, a bullet of a shot fired into the top corner from 30 yards in front of a stunned Shed End.
Chelsea enjoyed their best spell in the final 10 minutes when searching for a leveller but could find no way through, leaving Albion fans to celebrate another memorable afternoon on the road.
What a day and what a season this is turning into. Next stop… Wembley.
If you have any photos you would like included in our Chelsea 1-2 Brighton gallery, please e-mail them to wearebrighton@hotmail.co.uk or tweet them to us @wearebrighton
