Prime coverage, poor punditry & Albion camaraderie on show at Chelsea

For Wednesday night’s trip to Chelsea, Amazon Prime provided my viewing platform and once again the late drama supplied by Danny Welbeck and Brighton meant that my poor settee springs were in for a tough time – a recurring theme so far this season.

Not that I should complain. We are lucky to get to see more game these days than in years gone by on TV through various media means available to us, even if some of these do not come cheaply.

For those who cannot afford the increasing cost of the subscriptions needed, BBC Radio Sussex provide a fantastic service for free to those of us living in the county.

Johnny Cantor and Warren Aspinall on commentary are full of lots of useful information, although in this case it was debatable whether we wanted to hear that the last time Brighton found the back of the net at Stamford Bridge was a 1923 FA Cup tie against Corinthian, or that the Albion had never scored a goal away against Chelsea. Perhaps we could hold them to a 0-0 draw again…

Even before hearing that statistic, I think most Brighton fans probably would have thought before the match that the Albion may struggle against the European Champions – especially with the depth of squad that Thomas Tuchel has at his disposal at Chelsea.

Having played just three days ago when beating Brentford 2-0, Graham Potter made three changes from the Boxing Day win. Those changes brought back Yves Bissouma, Joel Veltman and Solly March.

Straight from kick off, you could see it was going to be a fast moving encounter. Our back four comprising of Tariq Lamptey, Veltman, Dan Burn and Marc Cucurella gave it everything. They chased every ball and put in several robust but fair challenges.

That was in stark contrast to Antonio Rudiger, who was lucky not to be sent off with a dangerous challenge on our Tariq which gained Rudiger a yellow card. Lamptey would have left him standing if he had passed him and Rudiger knew it, so he fouled him.

I was astounded that the Prime pitch side guest Eni Aluko said on camera at half time that it was a fair tackle on Lamptey. Dream on! It was nothing less than a second-rate chop!

Where did she play her football again? Oh yes, Chelsea Women. Brighton Women should watch out when they face the Blues if that is what they teach as fair at the Chelsea Academy.

It was in the 27th minute that Romelo Lukaku headed home Chelsea’s goal. At that point, I thought here we go. We had done well up to that point but surely the quality of the Blues would now show through.

Instead, hey, this just fired the Albion up. Great chances came our way as the lads settled into the game with Adam Lallana, Alexis Mac Allister, Jakub Moder and Neal Maupay all having opportunities.

Veltman had to make a couple of good defensive plays. He did so well to prevent Callum Hudson-Odoi from scoring for Chelsea in the second half when clearing off the line. Also standing out was his ability in the air; he was a real stalwart in this game.

Welbeck came on as a sub for Mac Allister late on and that eventually led to another 90 plus grandstand finish. An exquisite delivery from Cucurella was straight onto Welbeck and his header down into the left-hand corner easily had the beating of Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy with less than two minutes of time added on to play.

I was elated at such a great goal at a decisive time, as I am sure everyone reading this was. This really cannot go on like this however, as the settee springs took another bashing.

The result certainly gave Tuchel the real grumps and that made it feel even more like a win than it already did through the lateness of the equaliser. That determination to not sit back and continue to battle until the very last whistle really shows through.

I compared our game with Manchester United against Burnley 24 hours later, where Burnley were turned over whilst putting in nowhere near the effort that our lads did at Chelsea.

Following the Brentford and Chelsea matches, it has become even clearer to those of us who have followed the Albion’s weekly activities very closely that they really seem to be gelling together so well as a squad.

They appear to be playing for each other and if you watch, the camaraderie of the team and the squad looks brilliant. Long may it continue. This type of togetherness, playing as a team and not squabbling with each other will lead to inevitable success.

That is not to say of course that we are not already enjoying success, because we are. Brighton sit 10th in the Premier League ahead of a trip to Everton which kicks off 2022.

We have now played 18 games and have 24 points with two games in hand on some of our competitors. If the Albion can continue to build on their recent successes over the holiday period, then the next 12 months could be even more fantastic than the previous.

Following Everton, Brighton visit West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup. That is followed by an 8pm Friday night kick off against rivals Crystal Palace. Nobody needs reminding of the importance of that.

So, there is lots to play for over the next few weeks. The squad appear to be mentally in a good place – and if Leandro Trossard can return to join the fun at Goodison, who knows what might happen? Up the Albion!

Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony