FULL TIME: Brighton & Hove Albion 0-4 Chelsea
Stephens has a dig from just inside the Chelsea box, but Azpilicueta and Caballero combine to deny him. And that’s that. On another day, Brighton could have had a penalty, maybe a goal or two. They played well in patches. But they didn’t have the luck, and no decisions went their way. And they started cold, Chelsea punishing them severely. Then the class of the English champions told during the latter stages. Antonio Conte’s men have ended a barren run with a stylish goalfest, and they join Manchester United on 50 points, for a couple of hours at least. The man of the match, the ever-sensational Eden Hazard, gifts his top to a young lad in the crowd, a lovely end to a fine afternoon for Chelsea. Not such a happy ending for Brighton, who are slipping towards relegation bother.
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90 min: Kayal crosses from the right. Murray flashes a header over the crossbar. A consolation goal wouldn’t flatter Brighton, who have played well. They’ve just been undone by the class of Chelsea.
GOAL! Brighton & Hove Albion 0-4 Chelsea (Moses 89)
Musonda, quarterbacking from deep, loops a stunning pass down the centre to pick out Moses, cutting in from the right. He’s clear on goal. He takes a touch and guides the ball into the bottom right. A lovely goal!
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88 min: Musonda elects to pull the ball back for Moses, instead of launching it into the mixer. It eventually ends up at Cabellero’s feet. A waste of an opportunity, not that it matters one jot.
87 min: Musonda drives elegantly down the right and is upended by Propper. A free kick, and a chance to pile into the Brighton box.
86 min: The travelling Chelsea support are running through their songbook. Carefree, wherever they may be. The Brighton fans entertain themselves by trilling abusive observations about Crystal Palace. Everyone’s happy right now, in their own way.
84 min: Izquierdo races down the left with a view to outstripping Azpilicueta, but a heavy touch runs the ball out of play.
83 min: Marsh is replaced by Izquierdo.
81 min: The wonderful Willian is replaced by the 21-year-old Belgian Charly Musonda.
80 min: Yes, this match was never going to finish 0-2. Though it took a while.
79 min: Goldson completes a miserable couple of minutes by picking up a booking for obstructing Hazard. Luiz tries to send the free kick into the top left from 35 yards. Ambitious, even for him.
GOAL! Brighton & Hove Albion 0-3 Chelsea (Hazard 77)
A lovely solo dribble by Hazard, who is sent scampering down the left by Willian. He drifts inside. Goldson runs away from him, as opposed to putting in a challenge, and suddenly the Brighton defence opens up in the generous fashion. Hazard has acres to run into down the middle. He enters the box, and calmly rolls the ball into the bottom left. Chelsea will be joining Manchester United in second spot on 50 points, for a couple of hours at least.
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76 min: Chelsea made their second change. Zappacosta comes on for Alonso.
74 min: Batshuayi gets involved in a garden-variety tangle with Dunk, and briefly considers pushing his head into his opponent’s mush, then thinks better of it. The ref tells him to stop playing silly buggers and calm down. A little flashpoint out of nothing. It hasn’t been that sort of game.
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72 min: March tries to bustle his way through the middle, and very nearly works space to shoot on the edge of the Chelsea D. But he loses balance - with a little bit of encouragement from Kante - and Chelsea mop up. March wants a free kick, but he’s not getting it.
70 min: The ever-busy Propper robs Willian in the middle of the park and starts a move that sends Brighton into the Chelsea box. Murray can’t quite control to shoot; Schelotto has a whack that’s blocked the second it leaves his boot. Batshuayi threatens to tear clear on the break, but Duffy puts a stop to his gallop. This is a very open, entertaining match!
68 min: Brighton make a double change: Gross and Hemed off, Kayal and Murray on.
66 min: And then suddenly Brighton spring into life! Gross makes a nuisance of himself under a high ball. Rudiger only half clears with his header. Schelotto bursts in from the right, chests the ball down, and suddenly he’s one on one in the area with Caballero! But the keeper spreads himself brilliantly and saves Chelsea’s bacon. I repeat: how has this game stayed 0-2?
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65 min: Moses probes down the Chelsea right but can’t make room to deliver a cross. The game’s slipped into a lull.
63 min: Chelsea break upfield straight from Brighton’s corner, Willian feeding Hazard down the left. Hazard enters the box and looks briefly threatening, but then runs the ball out of play. End-to-end fun.
62 min: Space for March down the inside-right, Brighton having put a few nice passes together to advance upfield. He looks for the top right, but the ball deflects off Luiz and out for a corner.
60 min: How on earth has this game stayed at 0-2? The woodwork has been bothered at both ends, and there have been three penalty shouts that on another day could have been given. The punters have had their money’s worth today.
58 min: But before the free kick can be taken, referee Jon Moss ushers a confused looking Christensen to the sidelines. The defender can’t continue. Luiz comes on in his stead. Willian then takes the free kick, sending the ball towards the top right. Ryan, at full stretch, pushes it onto the post, and the danger is cleared.
56 min: Hazard goes on a brisk meander down the middle of the park. He’s stopped by a crunching Stephens tackle. But he springs up and goes again. This time he’s scythed down by Duffy, who is booked. A free kick in a dangerous, central position, 25 yards out.
54 min: Brighton are first to everything right now, though most of the game is being played out in the middle of the park. They’ve been impressive today, those costly (and admittedly rather important) first six minutes aside.
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52 min: Christensen is back on. Brighton are on the front foot. Chelsea have not looked comfortable when dealing with crosses.
50 min: Brighton hit the post! Schelotto jinks down the right and whips a deliciously inviting cross into the Chelsea box. Propper throws himself at it, and guides a header towards the top right. Caballero is beaten all ends up, but the ball crashes off the upright and away from danger! So unlucky!
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49 min: And there’s a stoppage as Duffy and Christensen require some treatment after clashing heads. The Chelsea man has come off worse; he looks pained and a little dazed. He ambles off the pitch though all signs suggest he’ll be waved back on soon.
47 min: A free kick for Brighton down the left and a chance to load the Chelsea box. Suttner curls it into the six-yard box. Duffy flings himself at the ball but only succeeds in clattering into Christensen. Free kick, he’s offside.
46 min: A loose pass from Duffy sets Chelsea on the attack again almost immediately. Hazard threatens to break down the middle. Then Moses has a look down the right. Nothing doing. But Brighton can’t afford to start the second half as slowly as they did the first.
And we’re off again! Brighton get the game restarted. No changes. The rain is still coming down.
Half-time listening: Lee Calvert, Gary Naylor and Rob Smyth reminiscing about Italia 90? What could you possibly be waiting for?!
HALF TIME: Brighton & Hove Albion 0-2 Chelsea
Hazard dribbles into the area from the right, and jinks past Suttner. There’s the slightest contact, and Hazard goes down. It would have been a harsh decision, but then you’ve seen them given. The third penalty claim of the half! And all ignored. So a slightly strange half of football comes to an end. Chelsea flew out of the blocks, and could have added more goals to their total. Brighton will argue that they should have had at least one spot kick, while Cabellero made a stunning stop on the line from Hemed. Pretty fine entertainment, all in all. You’ll not want to miss the second half, in which anything could happen.
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44 min: Then they suddenly break upfield through Willian, who shuttles the ball down the right for Batshuayi. The striker spins on the edge of the box and slashes a first-time effort towards the top left. It’s high and wide, but not so far off target.
43 min: Chelsea take the sting out of the game by stroking the ball around in the centre circle awhile.
41 min: Chelsea go very close to a third. Batshuayi has a dig from the edge of the D. It’s blocked, but the ball finds its way to Hazard on the left. Hazard enters the area and hits a cross-cum-shot that Moses can’t quite turn in at the far post.
40 min: Christensen plays a poor one out of defence and Brighton are once more on the attack. Propper tries to open Chelsea up with a backheel down the left, a clever idea that doesn’t quite come off. Nearly.
38 min: Chelsea suddenly look slightly less effective going forward. Batshuayi latches onto a loose ball in the middle of the park and drives upfield, but then sprays what should be a simple pass to Hazard on his left out of play for a throw.
37 min: Brighton are flinging crosses into the Chelsea box from left and right, and the visitors aren’t looking totally solid right now. Caballero has been a bit flappy.
35 min: Another penalty shout for Brighton! And again it’s Schelotto breaking into the box from the right. He goes over in a tangle with Bakayoko. Referee Jon Moss decides it was a 50-50 coming together, and isn’t giving that one either. Then he books Schelotto for arguing the toss. The home crowd are livid, and the Brighton players aren’t too happy either.
33 min: Another corner for Brighton on the right. Duffy meets this one, six yards out, but doesn’t connect properly and the ball flashes wide left. A chance spurned, though in fairness Alonso was seriously hassling him.
30 min: And yet Brighton, on another day, could be level. Add to the earlier penalty controversy this amazing save by Caballero, Hamed meeting a right-wing Gross cross with a header down towards the bottom left. Caballero somehow stops the brilliant effort on the line. It’s not quite Pele v Gordon Banks, but it’s in the very rough ballpark, and it’s some pretty great football all round. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
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28 min: Hazard embarks on a Maradonaesque dribble down the middle of the park. He thinks about shaping one into the top right from the edge of the area. Shame he didn’t, it would have been a classic goal. Instead he feeds Batshuayi on his right. The striker shoots; Ryan saves; the resulting corner is wasted. But Chelsea are back to their scintillating best.
26 min: Hazard slips a pass down the right to release Willian, Brighton’s offside trap all over the shop. Willian has a batter at goal, and very nearly finds the top right. Ryan parries. Corner. Hazard dances around in the area for a while, then tries to bust Moses into space on the right. He overcooks the pass, and that’s a goal kick. Chelsea look incredibly potent today.
25 min: A free kick for Brighton out on the right, and a chance for the home side to load the Chelsea box. Gross curls it into the mixer, but Hemed can’t get his head on it. Chelsea clear.
23 min: Hazard and Willian nearly open Brighton up again down the inside-right channel. One loose pass at the crucial moment nixes the move. Brighton are living on their nerves at the back. “Allow me to be the 567th pedant to say it should be 1.4 billion pennies for his thoughts (11 min).” Be my guest, Mike McCarthy. I’m not good at the number counting.
20 min: Brighton win their first corner of the game down the right. That one leads to a corner on the left. From that one, Caballero comes off his line and makes a complete balls of a punch. Duffy wins the header on the six-yard line and the ball’s bouncing around the area with the keeper stranded. The referee saves the day for Chelsea, by blowing up for a foul on the keeper that didn’t really happen. A shaky start for Caballero on his Premier League debut for Chelsea. And this is much better from Brighton, who have finally turned up to play.
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18 min: Having been very fortunate with the penalty non-decision, Chelsea go up the other end and nearly make it three. Bakayoko bashes towards the bottom right from the edge of the box, and Ryan does very well to push the ball away from danger.
16 min: Brighton claim for a penalty as Caballero races off his line and fails to gather Suttner’s cross from the left. Schelotto romps into the box down the inside-right channel, knocking the ball past the keeper. There’s contact, and the Brighton man goes down. But the referee isn’t having any of it.
14 min: This is nice, though, as March executes a brisk Cruyff Turn to spin his way past Bakayoko and make good down the inside-right channel. He looks to thread a shot into the bottom left, but Caballero gets down and gathers well on a greasy pitch.
13 min: Chelsea stroke the ball around the middle of the park. Hazard and Willian take turns to perform elaborate backflicks as the English champions put on a stylish show. Brighton are chasing shadows.
11 min: They hold firm. In the stand, Jürgen Locadia is chewing gum hard and frowning quite a lot. Fourteen million pennies for his thoughts right now.
10 min: Willian is in a no-nonsense mood today. He drives at purpose down the inside left and feeds Alonso, who earns a corner off Goldson. Brighton have already conceded 12 goals from corners this season, the worst record in the Premier League. They really need to hold firm here.
8 min: The home fans are stunned. The only noise is coming from the Chelsea corner, much as you’d imagine. Brighton try to steady the ship with some crisp passing of their own in the opposition half, but Chelsea hold their shape and neither March nor Hemed can fashion space for a shot from the edge of the box.
GOAL! Brighton & Hove Albion 0-2 Chelsea (Willian 6)
This is a gorgeous goal! Willian drives down the middle and offloads to Hazard, who instigates some pretty triangles with Batshuayi. Willian then gets involved in the ping-fest. More triangles. Then Willian finds a bit of space and slams a rising shot into the top right! What a start this is by Chelsea! Goals have been hard to come by ... but no longer!
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5 min: Chelsea always win when they take the lead. They’re 13 wins out of 13 this season. Brighton meanwhile have lost nine of 11 when conceding first. The form book suggests this game is already over, then. But Brighton won’t be going down without a fight, and Gross has a belt from distance. Over the bar.
GOAL! Brighton & Hove Albion 0-1 Chelsea (Hazard 3)
Chelsea have been struggling for goals recently, so this will do them very nicely. Willian and Moses take turns to dribble down the right. Moses reaches the byline and pulls one back for Hazard on the penalty spot. Stephens and Dunk try to intercept the pass, but no luck. Hazard takes a touch, shifts the ball to the right, and lashes into the top left!
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2 min: The rain is coming down hard on the south coast. Chelsea ping the ball about awhile. Stephens tries to stop a Hazard dribble and upends his man. An early free kick for the visitors deep in Brighton territory, in a fairly central position. Chelsea load the box, but Willian goes for goal from the best part of 30 yards. He looks for the top right but wafts his effort straight down Ryan’s throat.
And we’re off! Chelsea get the 150th league game at this lovely new stadium underway. But only after a bittersweet minute of the warmest applause in memory of the late, great Cyrille Regis.
The teams are out! Brighton & Hove Albion are in their blue-and-white-striped tops, which forces Chelsea into third-choice black. A rare old atmosphere at the Falmer Stadium, as ever, despite the hazy rain; Locadia taking to the pitch in his civvies for an introductory clap to all corners is met with a particularly huge roar. We’ll be off in a minute!
Antonio Conte speaks! “Every game is different. We will try to be focused offensively, and focused defensively. We will try to get three points, it’s the most important thing today.” One day I’ll stop transcribing these pre-match interviews, and you’ll probably thank me for it.
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Chris Hughton speaks! “We have had a decent level of performance against the top teams, but we haven’t scored any goals against them, and so we haven’t won any of the games. So sometimes as a manager you try to do something a little bit different. We are at home, we have a chance in every game. We will certainly have a go.”
We won’t be seeing him on the pitch today - in fact he’s injured and won’t be available for a couple of weeks - but Brighton’s new £14m record signing Jürgen Locadia is in the house, and he’s been talking to Sky Sports: “This move is crazy, it was all a dream, I’m glad I’m in the Premier League now. I’m obsessed with football and watch every Premier League game at home, so it’s crazy to be here. I bring power, precision, goals, assists and a lot of energy. I can shoot with my right and left foot, and have lot of ability to score a goal. I don’t think about the price.” He looks and sounds like he means business. Brighton fans will be extremely excited.
Brighton weren’t able to register their new signing Jürgen Locadia in time for this match. Nevertheless, they still make five changes to the team that went down 2-0 at West Bromwich Albion last week. Connor Goldson, Ezequiel Schelotto, Markus Suttner, Solly March and Tomer Hemed replace Gaetan Bong, Jose Izquierdo, Bruno, Anthony Knockaert and Glenn FFS Murray.
Chelsea have all manner of concerns. Pedro and Alvaro Morata are suspended after their red cards against Norwich City in the cup; Thibaut Courtois, Cesc Fabregas and Gary Cahill are all injured. Willy Caballero makes his Premier League debut for the club, while Ross Barkley is seen in a Chelsea shirt for the first time, albeit on the bench. There are six changes to the team sent out against Norwich midweek: Eden Hazard, Marcos Alonso, Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, Victor Moses and N’Golo Kane take the places of Davide Zappacosta, David Luiz, Danny Drinkwater, Kenedy, Ethan Ampadu and naughty Pedro.
The teams
Brighton & Hove Albion: Ryan, Goldson, Duffy, Dunk, Suttner, Schelotto, Stephens, Propper, March, Gross, Hemed.
Subs: Hunemeier, Kayal, Baldock, Murray, Izquierdo, Rosenior, Krul.
Chelsea: Caballero, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, Moses, Kante, Bakayoko, Alonso, Willian, Batshuayi, Hazard.
Subs: Barkley, Musonda, Zappacosta, Luiz, Eduardo, Ampadu, Sterling.
Referee: Jonathan Moss (County Durham).
Preamble
Neither of these teams are in the goals. Brighton have scored just three in their last eight Premier League matches, while Chelsea have only managed one in their previous four league and cup fixtures. And form comes at a premium too. Brighton have only won three games since the start of November; Chelsea haven’t tasted victory in a match in 2018 yet, one FA Cup penalty shootout aside.
But there’s always hope. Brighton will take succour from the fact they’ve only lost two of their 11 Premier League matches at the Amex all season; Chelsea will be buoyed by the way they saw off the Seagulls easily enough on Boxing Day.
Chelsea will be hot favourites this lunchtime: despite that recent indifferent form, they’re the English champions, after all. And they haven’t been beaten by Brighton since January 1933, when they were knocked out of the FA Cup on the same day Herbert Chapman’s Arsenal were famously felled by Walsall. But long unbeaten runs are there to be broken, aren’t they, and Brighton will fancy their chances of a long-overdue win against out-of-sorts opponents. It promises to be a fascinating duel. It’s on!
Kick off: 12.30pm GMT.
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