And here’s the match report from Jacob Steinberg.
Just because another picture of that goal is required.
2 - Having failed to score in any of his first 26 appearances for Brighton in all competitions, Alireza Jahanbakhsh has now netted in consecutive appearances for the Seagulls. Acrobat. pic.twitter.com/ybwVBXjYt6
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 1, 2020
Here’s the report from Turf Moor. Report from the Amex to follow shortly.
Neal Maupay and Alireza Jahanbakhsh speak.
NM: It’s a massive point for us. It’s a busy period, we had a lot of games. I am very happy for the team and happy for Ali’s goal. I think we controlled the whole game and they are a good team so we are quite happy with the point.
AJ: It is a great feeling to be involved with such important games. I have been working hard. It has been a long time coming but I am happy to help the team. It has been a hard time for me and I am happy to turn it around. It has been tough. I had a good feeling. The last game and now this game, I had a feeling I could make the difference. When Dunky gave me the ball I tried to hit it as hard as possible and then the only thing was the bicycle kick. I have done it and it went in the right direction, I think it was the best goal of my career.
Safe to say that Alireza Jahanbakhsh has scored the goal of the decade so far, with apologies to Jack Grealish.
Final score: Burnley 1-2 Aston Villa. Great news for Dean Smith and a poor result for Sean Dyche.
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Final score: Brighton 1-1 Chelsea
Jahanbakhsh’s goal deserves the plaudits. It was spectacular, and a deserved equaliser for Brighton who took the game to Chelsea, who suffered somewhat after Graham Potter made some attacking changes. Chelsea slackened off rather too much; Frank Lampard is likely to be peeved at his team’s performance but relieved at the full-time whistle.
FT: Brighton 1-1 Chelsea
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) January 1, 2020
A dramatic finish with a superb Jahanbakhsh goal resucing a point for Brighton. https://t.co/lNndlO49xX
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Full-time: Cheers as Reece James is booked for fouling Trossard. It sets up the last kick of the game, a free-kick chance from the edge of the area. Lewis Dunk takes it and it’s too tame to beat Kepa.
90+4 min: Might Kovacic have been sent off? Trossard had spun away and that looked a tactical foul, and the Croatian had been booked. Lenient from the referee.
90+3 min: There’s been some four minutes added on and the action has only just got more frenzied. Hudson-Odoi almost made amends for his earlier miss by heading back across goal for Abraham only for Webster to read the intentions and clear.
90 min: Some handbags. The ball, and not the game, had gone flat so a drop-ball is called. Maupay chose to contest it, which is against the rules these days and is thus booked. No, I didn’t know that rule, either.
89 min: Kepa saves Chelsea! The ball came in from the right and Maupay had chance to score from eight yards out. He did everything right but Kepa had also guessed right, making a fine save with his legs and knocking the ball back out from danger.
88 min: What a chance for Chelsea, and what a peeved expression from Frank. Abraham worked the space for Hudson-Odoi, who had the whole goal begging but missed.
87 min: It was the classic overhead kick, by the way. Like Rooney v Manchester City, and perhaps with a little less shin involved.
85 min: Jahanbakhsh took 18 months to score his first Brighton goal and then, jusy days later, followed it up with one of the best of the season. That was spectacular. Chelsea are still reeling from it, and Frank Lampard again looks peeved.
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Goal! Brighton 1-1 Chelsea (Jahanbakhsh, 84)
What an overhead kick from Jahanbakhsh! Dunk won the header and he launches it into the net.
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82 min: Trossard, Sussex’s answer to Eden Hazard, tries some kind of Gordon Strachan-esque free-kick routine. He plays a short one, then hits the resultant pass, a moving ball, away from everyone. Wasteful.
81 min: Connolly has been a livewire and it is his defiance that forces another attack from which Maupay is fouled by a Kovacic for another yellow card.
80 min: Close! Brighton have a free-kick, taken by Trossard. Connolly controls the ball in a tight space and then turns to scuff a shot that Kepa has to deal with. That’s as close as Brighton have come.
78 min: Connolly at last gets some space but then he loses his touch at a vital moment and the ball spills off for a throw. Brighton have suffered rather for a lack of composure. Montoya shows the same by smashing the ball willy nilly when a cross needed to caressed rather than walloped.
76 min: Tammy Abraham takes a kick where the sun doesn’t shine - unless you are an advocate of perineum sunning - from Bernardo in a clash by the sideline. Hopefully not too much harm done.
74 min: Callum Hudson-Odoi comes off the left and looks to have an open chance at goal, only for Adam Webster to smell the danger and clear.
73 min: Jahanbakhsh swings and misses the target as the ball spills. He cannot help but lean back and screw the ball wide.
72 min: Chelsea’s free-kick after that Dunk foul drifts out of play. Off goes Mason Mount, and he will be replaced by Kovacic, who will try and protect the defence a little more than Mount might be capable of.
70 min: Nice skill from Bernardo got Jahanbakhsh away but the Iranian was rather less than speedy. The breakdown of that move allows Tammy Abraham to buy Lewis Dunk the second booking of the game.
69 min: First booking sees Zouma pile into Connolly and bounce the Irishman off his feet.
68 min: Brighton change: Jahanbakhsh on for Mooy. That suggests Graham Potter sees speed being off the essence.
66 min: First Chelsea sub: off goes Pulisic, who did OK, for Callum Hudson-Odoi, who is still yet to show his best since coming back from that admittedly awful injury. Both players may have the spectre of Wilfried Zaha to contend with if those transfer types are right.
64 min: Jorginho makes an error in midfield and Maupay has the chance to play in Connolly, whose legs are pumping, only for Rudiger to come across. At the other end, James’ shot is deflected after Pulisic and Mount set up an attack.
63 min: This game has heated up nicely. Not a huge amount of quality but there is a competitive edge.
61 min: Rudiger enraged as he commits another foul on Connolly. His ire is not with the ref but Tammy Abraham for being too loose with the ball.
60 min: Mooy tries to get the speed of Connolly away but Reece James shows real defensive anticipation in realising the danger and running the ball out of play for a goal kick.
59 min: Brighton forge on but Propper’s attempt at a cross swerves behind. In truth, the final ball has been poor rather too often from them.
58 min: Kante fires in a snap shot that is saved by Ryan. Chances and openings at both ends now.
57 min: Near daylight for Trossard, only for the Belgian to overrun the ball. There’s disappointment among the home fans over that one. That combo of Trossard, Maupay and Connolly carries a threat.
55 min: Pulisic appears to be the out-ball of choice for Chelsea and he shows off his party trick in cutting inside, and blamming an effort at goal. And it’s wide this time.
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53 min: A rare Chelsea sojourn, with Azpilicueta on the burst. It comes to nothing. Then Rudiger is accused of a handball from a long pass forward for Dunk for Connolly...but Chelsea get an attack away and Pulisic powers the ball into the arms of Mat Ryan. Signs are that this is opening up.
52 min: Chelsea have been unsettled by Brighton’s energy though Albion have not exactly threaded much together themselves. This game has betrayed the bleariness of the time of year; there is too much football.
50 min: Connolly now chases down Rudiger. Good work from him. The plan appears to be stopping Chelsea being able to settle and Connolly is one of those players ideal for that approach, a ratter.
49 min: Rudiger fouls Connolly by the touchline, with the young Irishman showing admirable strength for someone who is giving away at least half a foot in height.
47 min: The belief appears that Chelsea can be got at so Brighton are going to try and attack. The opening moments, though, have been cagey.
46 min: They are back underway and Graham Potter has made an adventurous change: on comes Aaron Connolly for Yves Bissouma. Brighton go for something approaching 4-4-2.
Half-time: Brighton 0-1 Chelsea
Chelsea closed out the half on the attack, just as they began it but they were under pressure from a Brighton side that got better as the game went on and once Graham Potter made a tactical change. Cesar Azpilicueta’s goal separates the two teams.
45+2 min: Reece James still getting booed. Kante creates space and his switch of play gives Pulisic the chance to ping a shot on goal, just wide of Mat Ryan’s dive and the left-hand post.
45 min: Three added minutes, mostly for that shoulder injury for poor Dan Burn.
44 min: Brighton have gone like for like on Chelsea and look to have the stronger team at this point. Some ragged defending blocks off the excellent Maupay from having a chance.
43 min: Brighton go close! Maupay goes down the channel and lays up Trossard, whose shot is whipped across goal and Kepa has to make a full-length save. Montoya’s attempt at the rebound goes wide.
Updated
41 min: Aston Villa are 2-0 up on Burnley and Jack Grealish does have his goal this time. Life during VARtime can be terribly confusing.
40 min: Brighton continue to dominate possession without ever looking like creating danger. Pulisic works back well to break up play and the pitchside mic catches a bit of his American twang.
38 min: Chelsea trying to slow things down and take the sting out of a resurgent Brighton, though the home team do look a little short on the final ball. They are rather less than poised.
35 min: Chelsea concede a corner after a Zouma brainfart, and Brighton force another when Kepa looks similarly panicked. Mooy took both of them and dangerously so, and another is forced for him to ping the ball into the area of uncertainty. Mooy gets another attempt when the third corner spills out but Abraham gets back for a fine defensive header; better from Brighton, who have at last stepped it up.
33 min: Davy Propper got a little too excited when playing a through-ball and it drifts out. That may speak to Chelsea getting this game by the neck and forcing their opponent into anxious moments like that.
32 min: Some rare territory for Brighton, though they have been edging into a Chelsea team keen to play on the break. They haven’t looked like creating a chance for a while, mind you.
Updated
30 min: In other news, Aston Villa have actually scored now, and no VAR so Wesley’s goal has been allowed to stand. That’s a big goal in the relegation battle.
28 min: Reece James is getting booed for his clash with Dan Burn...Tammy Abraham shows his coltishness when he shoots instead of playing in Willian who was burning up alongside him and would have had a far better chance of scoring. Frank Lampard’s expression is peeved.
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26 min: Joe Pearson writes in: “The man-bra is actually a high tech monitor, with gps and everything. They’re really pretty cool.”
24 min: Pulisic, who has been decent so far, gets to ping in a cross, but there was nobody reading his mind.
23 min: Bernardo took a while to come on. He needed to put on his shirt and that man bra thing that the players all wear these days. Are they a bit like those nose strips that Robbie Fowler and others used to wear back in the 1990s?
22 min: The tall tree of Dan Burn has been felled by an aerial clash with Reece James, who went up for a header and caught his opposite number in the chest, though it’s his shoulder that appears to have sustained a problem. This is lengthy treatment and Burn leaves the field to be replaced by Bernardo who comes on at left-back.
Updated
18 min: Aaron Mooy has been kept quiet but seems to have moved a bit deeper. He attempts a run but is cut off but that may be a signal that Graham Potter has changed things up.
17 min: Willian looks to have a knock after running into the dreadnought also known as Dan Burn but should be OK to continue.
Updated
15 min: It’s been a decent start for Chelsea, this. Brighton have rather let them play with their narrow midfield...
In other news: Jack Grealish’s goal has been cancelled out for VAR.
The finest margins!
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) January 1, 2020
VAR rules out Jack Grealish's opener 📏#BTAllDayer pic.twitter.com/ocaMTwyW7h
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13 min: Some rather sleepy Brighton fans singing “Albion, Albion” as their team tries to find a way back into the game.
In other news: Jack Grealish has scored for Aston Villa at Burnley.
11 min: There was a slight delay there when Azpilicueta thought there was a tinge of VAR but he was onside and there was no push from the corner. A cheap goal to concede but Brighton had shown a soft underbelly.
Goal! Brighton 0-1 Chelsea (Azpilicueta, 10)
Pulisic spreads the play, with James again in acres of space to force a corner. Jorginho takes and it’s flicked on. Abraham shoots, and the ball spills loose, and Azpi converts from close range.
Updated
8 min: It’s an open game, with Brighton allowing those full-backs to run on and Chelsea looking, as ever, a little vulnerable in defence.
6 min: Both teams go close! Kante creates space for himself with a pirouette, and he slips on Reece James on the overlap. The shot goes wide but there is a warning sign for Brighton, who have narrow midfield. And straight at the other end, Alzate might have scored but for a deflection; Maupay had set him up.
4 min: Willian, the key man against Arsenal, goes on a scurry, but Brighton cut off the danger this time around.
2 min: Abraham escapes to the byline and his cross is deflected to Mason Mount, who hits the ball full on the volley but not past the first defender.
1 min: Pulisic, down the left, is quickly involved, but he is crowded out equally as quickly.
And away we go...
A toy town rave version of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire gets us underway as referee Stuart Attwell gets wired for sound; looks like he was cut off from the VAR, which might not have been a great loss to the game depending on your point of view.
The teams are out at the Amex. It looks like Chelsea are going four at the back, having made a couple of switches during the Christmas period. In fact, it’s pretty much 4-3-3 versus 4-3-3.
Frank Lampard speaks. Ten years ago, he was Super Frank, Super goals.
I think the overriding factor from the Arsenal game was the spirit and the fight. We have been waiting for the players to do that which is just pure spirit and fight. There are things we can always improve and this game is a different animal, different opponent, a footballing team, one that will try and plau. I have a lot of respect for what Graham Potter’s done....(On ten years ago) I would say no chance, it was a thought maybe. The honour of managing this club is huge.
Graham Potter speaks. Ten years ago, he was working at Leeds Carnegie University.
It would be nice to start off the year with a positive performance and a positive result. We are playing against a good team and it’s going to be a tough game but we are in a good place. We gave been struggling a little for results but performances have been good. It was nice to get a win in our previous game so hopefully we take that forward...It’s been some decade. Sometimes it’s nice to see the journey; it’s been a nice time.
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All is quiet on New Year’s Day.
10,000 - January 1st 2020 marks the 10,000th day since the opening round of Premier League football on August 15th 1992. Promises. pic.twitter.com/KWr7JWt75x
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 1, 2020
9/9 - Chelsea have won all nine of their league meetings with Brighton – the best such 100% record in English football league history. Expectation. pic.twitter.com/DS750c73nt
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 1, 2020
That Brighton team news seems tough on Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who scored his first goal for the club against Bournemouth after 18 months of trying. Chelsea have made three changes since Arsenal, where they didn’t play too well until late on, with Reece James, Christian Pulisic and Jorginho coming in for Azpilicueta, Mateo Kovacic and Emerson dropping out. Emerson has been linked with a move in the transfer rumour mill while another player who seems almost definite to be leaving, Olivier Giroud, has been left out altogether.
New Year, new VAR?
All the talk at Chelsea is of transfers, with their Fifa ban now revoked.
Brighton: Ryan, Montoya, Webster, Dunk, Burn, Propper, Bissouma, Alzate, Mooy, Trossard, Maupay.
Subs: Duffy, Stephens, Gross, Jahanbakhsh, Button, Bernardo, Connolly.
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, James, Rudiger, Zouma, Azpilicueta, Kante, Jorginho, Willian, Mount, Pulisic, Abraham.
Subs: Christensen, Caballero, Kovacic, Hudson-Odoi, Batshuayi, Emerson Palmieri, Lamptey.
Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)
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Here are the teams.
🔢 Here’s how Albion line-up for today’s game against @ChelseaFC in the @premierleague.
— Brighton & Hove Albion ⚽️ (@OfficialBHAFC) January 1, 2020
📲 Matchday Live is presented by @SnickersUKCom. #BHAFC 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/P89FZYR3Sx
Your Chelsea team to take on Brighton! 👊#BHACHE pic.twitter.com/E3JUeyml5S
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 1, 2020
Preamble
What did we learn about Chelsea over Christmas? Well, they aren’t quite as bad as Jonathan Wilson thought they might be, but then came that home defeat to Southampton to remind that the Bridge is rather less than a fortress these days. Then came that win at Arsenal which Frank Lampard really enjoyed, though he admitted his team had ridden their luck against an opponent who self-destructed almost as if as to show their new manager the depth of the challenge that awaits him.
For the final match of their festive flurry, a nice trip to the South Coast and a swill of some Sussex ales for the fans, but Brighton may be a tricky proposition. “Potterball” has taken the imagination of Albion fans, and results like the weekend’s defeat of Bournemouth, a peer club of greater Premier League cachet, will do nicely. Graham Potter’s task was to maintain safety and entertain the public far more than under Chris Hughton. So far, so good for the Premier League manager most likely to declare himself a fan of Ocean Colour Scene.
What better way to wake up those tired eyes and add ballast to those sagging dewlaps than this curtain raiser to the Roaring Twenties? Kick-off is at 12.30pm, GMT.
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