Seagulls land in Philly: Chelsea 4-3 Brighton photos
Since winning promotion to the Premier League, the Albion have done things no fan would ever have imagined possible even a decade ago. Never did we think back in 2013 that we would one day be posting photos from Chelsea 4-3 Brighton played out in front of nearly 70,000 in an NFL Stadium in Philadelphia.
And yet here we are. The Seagulls have landed in the United States for the Premier League Summer Series, a pre-season tournament pitting six top flight teams against each other ahead of the 2023-24 campaign.
It is all a far cry from sinking 10 pints with a thousand people at Leylands Park and watching Chris Holroyd miss a penalty against the might of Burgess Hill Town.
Friendlies are normally a bit of a bore (even with the added intrigue of a major US tour) so the organisers of the Summer Series lucked out in many ways by scheduling the Albion against Chelsea as the opening game.
The clubs have been banging heads throughout the transfer window so far, the Blues wanting to sign Moises Caicedo whilst Brighton are seeking to bring Levi Colwill back to the Amex on a permanent deal after his successful loan spell last season.
This led some Chelsea fans to label this match “a war” in the build up, which seemed a little over the top. There was certainly a bit more of an edge to it, Brighton also having taken six points off the Blues last season when humiliating Graham Potter and co 4-1 at the Amex before winning for the first ever time at Stamford Bridge.
The result of all that was an enthralling seven game thriller. Danny Welbeck gave the Albion the lead followed by Christopher Nkunku equalising six minutes later.
Jan Paul van Hecke was sent off on the hour mark, sparking a pretty crazy final 30 minutes. Chelsea immediately added three goals to their total via Mykhailo Mudryk, Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson.
That should have been that but Brighton came fighting back despite their man disadvantage, making it 4-3 by full time thanks to a Joao Pedro penalty and a nice Deniz Undav finish.
A fine start to the Summer Series all things considered. The Seagulls next head to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta to take on Brentford.
If you have any photos you would like included in our Chelsea 4-3 Brighton gallery from the Premier League Summer Series, please e-mail them to wearebrighton@hotmail.co.uk or tweet them to us @wearebrighton
