Enzo Maresca must be sick of the sight of Kaoru Mitoma. A week after he sent them tumbling out of the FA Cup, a breathtaking piece of control from the Japan winger to score the opening goal set up another memorable victory for Brighton and piled more pressure on the Chelsea manager.
It meant a third defeat in their last four matches as Cole Palmer endured another frustrating night labouring as a false 9 before having to be cajoled to greet those travelling supporters who remained at the end. At times Maresca seemed lost on the touchline as he watched his side struggle to respond after Yankuba Minteh had made it 2-0 before half-time. Minteh’s second of the night killed off any hopes of a comeback and it could have turned into a Valentine’s Day massacre had Mitoma, João Pedro or Joël Veltman taken late chances. But having suffered his biggest defeat since taking over in the summer and with Fabian Hürzeler’s side moving to within six points of his expensively assembled squad, the Chelsea manager will be wondering where the next win is coming from.
“We need to show more desire,” said Maresca, whose side did not even register a shot on target. “We feel upset and we feel very sorry for the fans. In this moment you cannot offer this kind of performance with 14 games to go. The fans have a right to be upset and the bad feeling is that we are conceding too many chances and not creating enough. This is a moment when we need to stick together.”
Maresca brushed off criticism from some supporters this week after saying that their exit from the FA Cup meant they could concentrate on the Premier League, insisting that qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since 2022 would take the club back to where they “belong”. On this evidence, they will be fortunate to be back in the Conference League next season.
The decision to recall Filip Jörgensen in place of Robert Sánchez in goal meant the home fans had one fewer former player to boo. But they picked up where they left off last week whenever Moisés Caicedo or Marc Cucurella touched the ball.
Hürzeler called on his players to improve their wretched recent home form that had seen them fail to win any of their last five league matches at the Amex Stadium if they are to stand any chance of qualifying for Europe next season and once again got the response he required. “We knew that we had to be compact against Chelsea but in both games the intensity was the key,” the Brighton manager said.
After blazing over when he had an early sight of goal, Palmer’s next effort was even worse as it skewed way off target following a surging run down the right flank that proved to be the end of Noni Madueke’s evening. He limped off with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Jadon Sancho.
Brighton, in their first league game since a 7-0 humbling by Nottingham Forest, had shown only glimpses of their threat up until that point and their breakthrough came from the most direct means possible. Bart Verbruggen – whose disastrous own goal last week gifted Chelsea the lead – picked out Mitoma with a raking pass and the Japan winger’s first touch as the ball dropped over his head was immaculate before he drifted past Trevoh Chalobah and curled the ball past Jörgensen with aplomb. “When I saw his first touch … I’ve seen him do it countless times in training,” said Danny Welbeck. “It was a thing of beauty.”
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Chelsea also had the ball in the net but the celebrations were cut short when Enzo Fernández was adjudged to have committed a foul. Instead it was the home fans who could not contain their joy when a haphazard Chelsea defence failed to stop Georginio Rutter’s cross and Minteh kept his cool to slot home from close range after being set up by Welbeck.
Maresca sent his players out early into the cold Sussex night for the second half but the break did not appear to make much difference. Rutter should have done better when set up by Minteh and could only direct his shot well over. But Minteh made no such mistake when Levi Colwill gave the ball away cheaply and Welbeck again turned provider for Brighton’s third. Malo Gusto’s reward for playing him onside was to be hauled off for Reece James, while £115m signing Caicedo was greeted with chants of “What a waste of money!” when he made way.
Mitoma could only fire straight at Jörgensen after a rapid break downfield as Brighton went for the jugular. The Chelsea goalkeeper was fortunate that the substitute João Pedro could not hit the target after intercepting a terrible pass out from the back before Veltman struck a post late on. The way things have been going for Maresca, he will be grateful for small mercies.
Source: theguardian.com
