Brighton 1-2 Chelsea: Is that all you get for a billion pounds?
The morning after the night before and I had to check whether the final score at the Amex was indeed Brighton 1-2 Chelsea. And not just because the WAB Facebook and Instagram account posted that it finished 2-0 to the Blues. Blame the nine minutes of first half stoppage time creating an opening for a second glass of half time red wine.
No, the reason the result had to be ratified was because of the gloating of Chelsea fans. The way they were carrying on, you could have been mistaken for thinking the Blues had run up five, six or seven goals against the Albion.
As they should be doing with a billion pound squad costing five, six, seven times as much as Brighton’s. With the £225 million they have spent taking 11 members of Albion staff to Stamford Bridge.
All that money and pillaging has delivered Chelsea zero trophies, no Champions League football and their supporters celebrating scraping a 2-1 win over a patched-up Brighton as if they had just won the title. What a strange, embarrassing club.
And for all that money spent, the Blues remain something of a one-man team. That one-man being Cole Palmer. Roberto De Zerbi confirmed in the build up to Brighton 1-2 Chelsea that the Albion were interested in signing Palmer from Manchester City in the summer.
Imagine for a second if that deal had come off. How much higher up the Premier League standings would the Seagulls have swooped too? Where would Chelsea be in contrast?
Palmer gave the visitors the lead on 34 minutes with his 22nd goal of the campaign. A cross came in from the overlapping Marc Cucurella met by a superb Palmer header giving Bart Verbruggen no chance.
Cucurella and Moises Caicedo were booed from the minute their names were read out by Richard Reynolds. The abuse for Cucurella ratcheted up a notch when he went down in the box from a Facundo Buonanotte challenge with 17 minutes played.
Referee Michael Salisbury initially pointed to the penalty spot. With Palmer set up to take and Cucurella having antagonised the North Stand, VAR though advised Mr Salisbury to take another look.
The official changed his mind. The Amex cheered. Cucurella was upset. Palmer smashed the ball into the crowd in frustration.
It would not be the only good use of VAR in Brighton 1-2 Chelsea. Reece James would have escaped without punishment for kicking Joao Pedro off the ball had VAR not informed Mr Salisbury.
James instead was a shown straight red card, similar to the one his sister received for England against Nigeria in the Women’s World Cup.
Lauren James was also fortunate to escape a sending off when stamping on Lia Walti as Chelsea Women were hammered by Arsenal at the Emirates earlier in the season. What is it about that family?
There was a certain amount of irony at VAR actually doing what it was brought into football for – overturning game-changing incorrect decisions – just a few hours after it was revealed the Premier League are to vote on scrapping it from next season.
Brighton felt they should have been awarded a penalty early in the second half. A trip in the box on Simon Adingra from Malo Gusto went unpunished by both Mr Salisbury and VAR.
How and why was a genuine mystery as it looked a stonewall foul. Roberto De Zerbi was not impressed if his post match comments criticising the officials were anything to go by. “The referee, I didn’t like him today,” said De Zerbi afterwards.
The first goal of the second half was clearly going to be crucial. Chelsea thought they had it when Nicolas Jackson galloped clear and squared towards Christopher Nkunku.
From nowhere though, Adam Webster slid in to clear just before Nkunu could convert. Webster had another excellent game at the heart of the Albion defence to go with strong performances in the draw at Newcastle United and win over Aston Villa since his return to the starting XI.
Brighton began to look increasingly dangerous from wide positions as the half wore on. The Seagulls flashed several good balls into the box, only for nobody to be on the end of them. The Albion were crying out for Danny Welbeck to come off the bench.
Welbeck was warming up vigorously when a Brighton player did finally get on the end of a cross. Unfortunately, it resulted in a catastrophic miss from Pascal Gross.
Tariq Lamptey whipped a lovely right footed ball in. Gross arrived at the neat post but volleyed wide with only Blues goalkeeper Dorde Petrovic to beat.
The costliness of the miss was hammered home when Chelsea doubled the lead on 64. Gusto broke down the right and his low cross was swept home by Nkunu.
De Zerbi finally introduced Welbeck in response as the Albion finished strongly. A cushioned Adingra volley from a Gross cross came back off the inside of the post before Welbeck scored in the seventh minute of injury time, prodding home a Pedro pass from close range.
There were still three minutes to play after Welbeck struck. Chelsea hung on though and it clearly meant an awful lot to their fans watching on screens in Lagos, judging by the state of the WAB Twitter mentions.
Enjoy it, guys. Some achievement, spending all that money to beat Little Old Brighton by a single goal.
