Premier League Update: Valentine’s Day Massacre | OneFootball

Brighton & Hove Albion 3 – 0 Chelsea

This time the perpetrators used feet, sweat and soccer balls, not tommy guns and pistols. They wore blue and white stripes, not police officer’s blues.

What a curious fortnight and a few Brighton has had. Two weeks ago they were embarrassed in a 7-0 blowout to Nottingham Forest. The following week in the FA Cup they pulled a mini-upset by toppling Chelsea 2-1. Six days later, on Valentine’s Day, they had a second date with Chelsea. This one went even better than the first, Brighton having their way with a Chelsea team that was so lifeless Enzo Maresca was calling for the defibrillator.

Limp Up Front

To be fair, Chelsea showed a semblance of effort in the first half, attempting six shots. Cole Palmer unfortunately set the tone when his 4th minute effort tried to find the upper tier of the stands. The rest of Chelsea followed his lead. They mustered only two efforts in the second half, eight in total and ZERO on frame. That was the first time in nearly four years that had happened. Fans will point out that Enzo Fernández did score off a cross, and probably rail that those two hands in the defender’s back just prior to his header were a massage, not a push. But the referee would have none of that, and the goal did not stand.

Wide Open in Back

On the defensive side, it wasn’t much prettier. Brighton’s first goal came off a Bart Verbruggen long ball that Kaoru Mitoma masterfully controlled, pivoting himself inside of Trevor Chalobah and then lashing it home. Yankuba Minteh doubled the lead after taking a Danny Welbeck tap, dribbling up the box a wee bit and then popping the ball to the inside corner.

Levi Colwill’s giveaway handed Brighton their third. Colwill went to ground so easily from the slightest pressure even the referee laughed at him while waving him to get up. Welbeck once again delivered a perfectly timed pass to Minteh, whose shot deflected off Chalobah and into the net. Trevor had a rough night and is probably wishing Chelsea brass had left him at Palace – a team that can beat the Seagulls. If Brighton players hadn’t been infected by Chelseaitis, skying perfectly good efforts, the score could have been higher.

It’s an old adage in soccer that the hardest thing to do is beat the same team in back-to-back fixtures. We need to put an asterisk next to that… *unless you play Chelsea.