Match Review: Brighton 1-1 Chelsea
Does anybody else feel like they’ve stepped into an alternate universe as 2019 has given away to 2020? Things have begun happening that never seemed possible before. This isn’t the world that we thought we knew.
Brighton actually beating Plucky Little Bournemouth for the first time in 12 years was strange enough. Defeating a side managed by Eddie Howe and wiping that smug grin off his face, very peculiar.
To then follow it up with a first ever league point against Chelsea was out of the ordinary. Nine previous times the Albion and the Blues have crossed swords, resulting in nine defeats for the Seagulls. Two goals scored, 19 conceded.
But most odd of all about these past four days has been the man central to the weird stuff that has been occurring. Alireza Jahanbakhsh. After zero goals and zero assists in 26 Brighton appearances, the Iranian now has two in two including the undoubted Goal of the Season which earned the 1-1 draw with Chelsea.
Not many players could do what Jahanbakhsh did with his 84th minute equaliser against Frank Lampard’s side. It was a breathtaking piece of skill which quite rightly earned praise around the world – and over a quarter of a million likes on Jahanbakhsh’s Instagram page. They were dancing on the streets of Tehran in celebration – or at least the men were anyway.
There appeared to be little on as Leandro Trossard’s corner was headed back across goal by Lewis Dunk. The ball was dropping behind Jahanbakhsh, but he contorted his body, threw himself through the air and produced the perfect bicycle kick to deliver a powerful effort which left Kepa Arrizabalaga with absolutely no chance.
Where the hell did it come from? Before Saturday, Jahnabakhsh was a man whose Albion career was notable for once hitting the bar against Southampton, falling over his leg when presented with virtually an open goal away against the same opponents and getting strangled by Kyle Walker.
And now here he is, producing one of the best finishes we’ve ever seen from a Brighton player. What a transformation, rather like that girl everyone had at school who used to get bullied for being so ugly who you then bump into in the pub 10 years later and she looks like Ariana Grande.
People are saying Jahanbakhsh has always been capable of moments like that, Brighton fans just wrote him off too quickly. Which is bollocks, frankly.
Deciding a player is rubbish after half-a-season is folly, as many have done with Adam Webster. But Jahanbakhsh had over a year to make an impression.
It’s fair game to question his ability when the only thing he has achieved in 18 months is to have gone to Wembley and been part of a reenactment of Nigela Lawson and Charles Saatchi’s infamous 2013 disagreement in a London restaurant.
Even Graham Potter wasn’t convinced initially. We were told that the new manager’s arrival at the Amex would free Jahanbakhsh from the defensive duties that Chris Hughton expected of his wingers, which had apparently stifled his creativity.
And yet Potter afforded him only 30 minutes of Premier League football in the first 19 games of the season. As recently as last month, sources inside the club were briefing that he would be offloaded in January should Solly March recover from groin surgery by the time the transfer window shut.
It felt almost by accident that Jahanbakhsh found his way back into the team. Two games in 48 hours over the busy Christmas period and March’s injury combined with Jose Izquierdo’s long-term absence gave him his chance against Bournemouth. Two goals in two games means that Potter surely won’t be looking to get rid now.
Jahanbakhsh’s moment of magic lit up what was otherwise a pretty dull encounter. Chelsea were far below their flowing best and Maty Ryan didn’t have one save of any real note to make.
Arrizabalaga was the busier of the two goalkeepers, brilliantly denying Aaron Connolly with a fine reaction save and then keeping out Neal Maupay’s one-on-one with his feet. Against a lesser keeper than the Spaniard, the Albion could easily have claimed all three points.
Which you’d have got long odds on at half time. The opening 45 minutes were dreadful as passes went astray and the Albion failed to have a shot on target.
The men in stripes were playing like a side who’d celebrated New Year’s Eve a little too hard in Molly Malone’s 12 hours previously. What with it being Shane Duffy’s birthday too, the bar takings in Brighton’s premier Irish pub were probably in the millions.
Chelsea’s opening goal summed that up. Brighton’s defending from a corner was absolutely woeful as they missed three opportunities to clear the ball.
Dunk lost Curt Zouma who as a result had a free header back across goal. Tammy Abraham fired the loose ball at Aaron Mooy who made a block but was hardly convincing.
From there, Cesar Azpilicueta found himself completely free in the six yard box, front and centre of goal with the simple task of tapping into an empty net. He duly did so with just over 10 minutes played. New year, same shit defending from set pieces.
Things didn’t get any better for the Albion. Dan Burn was forced off with a fractured collarbone after an accidental clash with his former Wigan Athletic teammates and one-time Brighton target Reece James.
Brighton fans relentlessly booed James from that point on, but there was nothing malicious in it. The two players had both been going for the ball and it was just unfortunate that Burn came off worse.
He’ll now be out for a couple of months, which could force Potter to either seek left back cover in January or recall Ben White from his loan at The Leeds United.
Given how good White has been for the Champions of Europe so far, we hope Potter takes the latter option just to mess up their promotion bid.
James and Azpilicueta were causing real problems for the Albion as they bombed forward, Frank Lampard being the latest manager to assess that Potter’s 4-2-2-2 formation leaves Brighton’s full backs hopelessly exposed.
If you’ve got half decent players in wide areas, then you’ve got every chance of hurting the Albion when they play this way. Everton did it, Manchester United did it and now Chelsea have done it.
Potter for his part realised this and so switched to a 4-3-3 at the break, replacing Yves Bissouma with Connolly. This drew a much better performance out of the Albion with Connolly and Maupay’s saved efforts sandwiching Jahanbakhsh’s moment of magic.
Both sides went hammer and tongs for the win in the final 10 minutes once Brighton’s equaliser had arrived, but in the end Brighton 1-1 Chelsea was a fair result – and no mean feat against a Chelsea side who have won away at Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal in the past few weeks.
A first point against Chelsea is in the bag. A first win over Bournemouth. A first goal for Alireza Jahanbakhsh. The next target? How about a first Premier League win in January?
With games away at Everton and Bournemouth and home to Aston Villa to come, that should really be achievable. Things could yet get a whole lot stranger at the beginning of what we hope will be the roaring twenties for Brighton and Hove Albion.
