Brighton 3-0 Chelsea: The Chelsea gifts keep coming for Albion
£250 million in cold, hard cash. A place in the fifth round of the FA Cup. And now Brighton 3-0 Chelsea on Valentine’s Day. Displaying true love on the most romantic night of the year, the Blues again showered generous gifts on an Albion they are besotted with.
How a club can spend over a billion pounds in three years and yet still lose twice to Brighton in the space of six days is something of a mystery.
This second Albion victory to go with Brighton 2-1 Chelsea in the world’s greatest cup competition last weekend was not just a victory. It was a mauling.
Chelsea managed only a single shot on target. From Adam Webster. Whose own goal attempt was kept out by Bart Verbruggen.
The Blues were so bad that 2500 of the Proper Chels in the away end walked out long before the final whistle. Even better was the reaction of Chelsea fans online.
Heads were once again sent spinning from thousands of Blues followers, whose usual retort of “joke club Brighton are finish” was replaced with “where is your trophy.” Bless ’em.
The classlessness of Chelsea is not restricted to the terraces or from behind screens in Lago and Abidjan. Blues boss Enzo Maresca did not cover himself in a glory in his pre-match press conference the day before Brighton 3-0 Chelsea.
Maresca went into a strange rant about how much he loved Roberto De Zerbi, hailing the ex-Albion boss as a top class manager.
When Maresca was then asked if he also thought Fabian Hurzeler a top class manager, he simply smiled, laughed, ended the press conference and walked out.
Who was laughing come full time on Friday night? Not Maresca. Nor the trio of Blues players who swapped the Amex for Stamford Bridge, burning their bridges with Brighton along the way thanks to the manner in which they all downed tools before exiting.
Marc Cucurella ended up absolutely rinsed by two-goal Yankubu Minteh. Including when being left on his arse (again) as Brighton scored their second.
Cucurella also reminded us exactly what sort of bloke he is when Joel Veltman put the ball out so a teammate could receive treatment. Cucurella refused to throw it back to Brighton. What a petty little twat.
Moises Caicedo picked up a first half booking born out of frustration. And Robert Sanchez did not even make it onto the pitch after being dropped by Maresca.
Sanchez’s replacement Filip Jorgensen did not exactly cover himself in glory during Brighton 3-0 Chelsea.
Paul Winstanley and Sam Jewell have made a total balls up out of the goalkeeper situation, with Kepa Arrizabalaga outperforming either Sanchez or Jorgensen on loan at Plucky Little Bournemouth.
When will the penny drop for Chelsea that Winstanley, Jewell or anyone else behind the scenes is not the key to the Albion’s impressive record in the transfer market? The one person Todd Boehly needs to buy is Tony Bloom. But Bloom is not for sale. We hope…
Another bloke who Brighton did not sell in January despite a mega money bid from Saudi Arabia set the Albion on their way to victory by scoring the opening goal on 27 minutes.
No words can do justice to the first touch displayed by Kaoru Mitoma as he brought down a long Bart Verbruggen kick up field.
So I am not even going to bother, other than describe it as the greatest piece of control I have ever seen in over 30 years watching Brighton.
Mitoma subsequently cut inside Trevor Chalobah and smashed a shot into the bottom corner. Jorgensen probably should have done better but nobody was talking about that afterwards.
The only subject of conversation could be Mitoma and that first touch. Lionel Messi-esque as Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports commentarty quite rightly described it.
11 minutes later and the Albion doubled their lead. Georginio Rutter delivered a low cross which almost led another ex-Seagull in former loan player Levi Colwill to turn into his own net.
Jorgensen managed to keep it out with an outstretched leg. But the danger was not over. Danny Welbeck seized on the loose ball, Cucurella ended up looking like an embarrassing breakdancing dad drunk at a party with Minteh applying the finish.
Lol #BHAFC pic.twitter.com/OTUpknRdyE
— We Are Brighton (@wearebrighton) February 14, 2025
Things were made safe when Brighton added their third on the hour mark. Welbeck dispossessed Colwill and fed the outstanding Minteh.
Cucurella was again left in a spin as his nightmare evening took another turn. Having suitably shown up the curly haired left back, Minteh beat Jorgensen at his near post. Game, set and match with 30 minutes still to play.
The Albion could and probably should have added more. Joao Pedro fired a glorious chance over just minutes after coming on when Jorgensen passed the ball straight to the Brazilian forward’s feet.
It was a waste of an opportunity, surprisingly not followed by Pedro waving his arms at the crowd. Maybe if we all cheered a bit louder, Pedro might have got a shot on target with only Jorgensen to beat?
I jest, of course. Another late opportunity came to Veltman of all people after a fine pass from substitute Yasin Ayari. The post denied the Dutch defender his once-a-season-goal.
And that was that. Maresca may not think Hurzeler a top class head coach. But the way The Youngest Permanent Manager in Premier League History has overcome Brighton losing 7-0 against Forest is almost as impressive as that hammering at the City Ground was disastrous.
This is the Brighton & Hove Albion we all know and love. Heaviest defeat for 67 years on February 1st. Knock Chelsea out of FA Cup on February 8th. Beat Chelsea 3-0 in Premier League on February 14th.
You don’t need me to tell you what Brighton are going to do at Southampton on February 22nd…
