Chelsea 1-2 Brighton: Money cannot buy you everything

The story of Chelsea 1-2 Brighton was all in the numbers. And there is no better place to start than with money, money, money.

Frank Lampard named a starting XI on his return to the Stamford Bridge dugout which cost £499.3 million to put together. That is more than Brighton have spent in 122 years, with Roberto De Zerbi’s XI against Chelsea coming in at £52.8 million.

None of that Chelsea spend takes into the account the £83 million Todd Boehly has given the Albion, either. £62 million Marc Cucurella was only on the bench and £21 million head coach – the most expensive manager in football history – Graham Potter was sacked after just seven months in charge.

Over the past 10 months, Boehly has pillaged Brighton of their head coach, assistant head coach, first team coach, attacking coach (yes, Potter really did give that role to Bruno), goalkeeper coach, head of recruitment, recruitment specialist and player of the season.

What Chelsea have been unable to buy from the Albion is points. Brighton have taken six out of six in seven months having never previously beaten the Blues in a league game before. No amount of money can hide how embarrassing that is for Boehly.

Want more numbers? Okay. The Albion had 12 shots during the first half of Chelsea 1-2 Brighton, the joint-most of any visiting side at Stamford Bridge since the Premier League started recording such statistics in the 2003-04 season.

There were periods of the game where the Albion enjoyed as much as 75 percent possession. Their overall total was 57 percent. The final shot count was 26, 10 of which were on target.

Had Kepa Arrizabalaga not been in such inspired form and the Albion a little more clinical, the scoreline could have eclipsed the 4-1 win Brighton enjoyed at the Amex back in October. It was a better performance than that day, arguably the best seen under Roberto De Zerbi so far.

What made this three points even more pleasing was the way the Albion coped with injuries and unavailability. Adam Lallana has already been out for months, Tariq Lamptey since the start of March and Jason Man of Steele was ruled out in the week leading up to Chelsea 1-2 Brighton.

Levi Colwill was unable to play against his parent club and De Zerbi then lost Evan Ferguson and Joel Veltman to first half injuries.

And yet the way Brighton’s bench came on and won the game, you would think that it was the Albion who had spent half a billion pounds since the summer on new recruits.

Instead, Danny Welbeck was signed as a free agent after being released by Watford and Julio Enciso is a £9 million teenager from Paraguayan top flight side Club Libertad.

You could buy 10 Encisos with the money Boehly lavished on Enzo Fernandez, subbed off by Lampard as part of a quadruple change early in the second half with Chelsea under the cosh.

Brighton began brightly, roared on by a terrific atmosphere from the away end. Kaoru Mitoma set his stall out early for what would end up being an electric performance down the left, sending in a ball which Ferguson diverted into the side netting.

Mitoma next went past two Blues players and cut back from the by-line to Alexis Mac Allister. The Argentine midfielder shot low and hard first time just wide of the post when perhaps a square pass to Pascal Gross would have been the better option.

Chelsea were unable to cope with the Albion’s aggressive press and Brighton instantly regained possession. Mac Allister turned creator this time, feeding a ball from the left into Ferguson.

The teenage Irish sensation turned on the edge of the box and cracked an effort which beat Kepa but not the bar, cannoning off the woodwork and back to Benoit Badiashile to desperately hack away.

It was very much against the run of play when Chelsea took the lead with 14 minutes on the clock. £88 million winger Mykhailo Mudryk cut in from the flank and fed Connor Gallagher, whose effort from just outside the box took a big deflection off Lewis Dunk to elude the returning Robert Sanchez in the Albion goal.

Brighton responded by going back on the attack. Pervis Estupinan nudged Christian Pulisic in the back, causing the Chelsea defender to knock the ball towards Kepa with his hand.

The incident was almost a carbon copy of Mitoma getting shoved and inadvertently using his shoulder to control at Spurs last week.

Whereas VAR took a look, concluded Mitoma had deliberately handled and ruled out the goal, there was no check from Stockley Park on this occasion even though Pulisic had used his actual hand.

It seemed to be a more blatant handball and yet VAR were not at all interested. Make of that what you will. Thankfully, this time around the interesting interpretation of the rules from the officials could not stop Brighton taking points.

Mitoma continued to be at the heart of everything good the Albion did. He glided past four Chelsea defenders on a meandering run from left flank to inside the Chelsea box, followed by a powerful shot Kepa did brilliantly to keep out with a strong right arm.

Gross moved to right back when Veltman departed, Mac Allister dropped deeper alongside Moises Caicedo in midfield and Enciso took over at number 10.

It did not take Enciso long to get into the action. He drifted right and dinked a lovely cross met by a powerful Ferguson header requiring another outstanding save from Kepa. Ferguson landed awkwardly, necessitating his replacement with Welbeck.

There was a certain sense of irony at this stage that Brighton were giving a classic Albion-under-Potter performance of wastefulness in front of goal against the club who Glow Up walked out on the Seagulls for back in September.

But Welbeck had other ideas. Dat Guy had equalised for Brighton seven minutes after coming off the bench in the 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge last season and this time around, he needed just three minutes to make his mark.

Der Kaiser came forward from right back, threw in a Gross Turn for good measure and delivered the perfect cross for Welbeck to head past Kepa, finally ending the resistance of the Chelsea goalkeeper.

Going into half time level was the least Brighton deserved. Their task for the second half was now to push on and claim an historic first ever league win at Stamford Bridge.

Kepa saved from Enciso who then hit the post after making a mockery of Reece James being the best right back in the world.

The loose ball fell to Welbeck charging into the box but with an open goal gaping, he stumbled when about to pull the trigger and fired his shot into the upper tier of the away stand.

A rare Chelsea foray forward brought a big moment for Sanchez, producing an excellent double stop from James and Mudryk. The importance of those saves became evidenced with 20 minutes remaining when Enciso made it Chelsea 1-2 Brighton.

March moved the ball inside where Enciso took two touches, steadied himself and then let go a bullet into the top corner of Kepa’s goal from a full 30 yards. History made.

It was a stunning goal, the sort Boehly and Chelsea fans must have been expecting to see on a regular basis from the likes of Mudryk, Fernandez and Raheem Sterling given how much they cost.

Enciso on the other hand was found by good scouting, analysis and the transfer policy put in place at the Amex by Tony Bloom. Yet another star is born at the Albion, one whom Boehly will probably try and buy for £700 million this summer.

But money cannot buy you everything. Two Brighton wins by an aggregate score of 6-2, a gap of 10 points and four places between the Albion and Chelsea in the Premier League table proves that. Better luck next season, Todd.