Chelsea 4-2 Brighton: Player ratings as Palmer scores four in Stamford Bridge thriller
FROM STAMFORD BRIDGE – Chelsea continued their fine run of form with a breathless 4-2 win at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Blues remain unbeaten in the Premier League since losing to Manchester City on the opening day of the season.
Cole Palmer scored four first-half goals to put the Seagulls to the sword on a fine Saturday in west London.
How the game unfolded
Within the first opening minutes, Brighton took the lead. The hosts failed to deal with a Pervis Estupinan cross, with Carlos Baleba blocking Levi Colwill’s clearance, and Georginio Rutter beat goalkeeper Robert Sanchez to the loose high ball, heading into an empty net.
Chelsea’s first opportunity came midway through the first half when Enzo Fernandez picked out Palmer’s run in behind, but with only Bart Verbruggen to beat, he rolled a shot off the post.
He had the ball in the net with his next chance from another Fernandez pass, but he was well offside and the goal was quickly ruled out.
But it was third time lucky for Palmer with Chelsea’s next attack. Adam Webster horribly under-hit a pass back to Verbruggen which was pounced upon by Nicolas Jackson, and he squared for the Blues‘ number 20 to finish.
Brighton were drowning under pressure from Chelsea, who again thought they’d scored when Noni Madueke raced beyond the last line and teed up Jadon Sancho for an easy finish. The offside flag went up to deny the winger, and this decision was confirmed after a fairly lengthy VAR check.
Chelsea were awarded a penalty moments later when Sancho fell between the bodies of Rutter and Baleba. Palmer stepped up and sent Verbruggen the wrong way to put the hosts ahead.
Palmer had his hat-trick on the half-hour mark in sensational fashion, putting a free-kick from 25 yards right into the top corner.
Brighton should have pulled one back when Mats Wieffer rolled an effort from close range wide, but they got their reward from the resulting goal kick when Sanchez gifted the ball for Baleba to convert from close range.
From kick-off, Baleba brought a top save out of Sanchez with a barnstorming strike from distance as the tetchy mood around Stamford Bridge set back in.
Palmer whipped a delicious long ball over the top for Madueke to latch onto, and he sat down Webster before firing wide.
There was still time before the break for Palmer to grab his fourth goal, making an underlapping run inside of Sancho and then converting at the near post. With this, he became the first player in Premier League history to score four first-half goals in one game.
Chelsea got into half-time two goals ahead after Sanchez made another impressive save to keep out Welbeck’s low strike.
The visitors wanted a penalty on the other side of the break when Kaoru Mitoma fell under a challenge from Malo Gusto, but the referee was not interested in their protests.
Straight down the other end, Jackson did superbly well to bring down a high ball from Palmer and round Verbruggen in the process, but Webster recovered to make a goal-saving block.
Palmer, somehow, didn’t net his fifth when Moises Caicedo robbed Wieffer of the ball, with his one-on-one shot drifting wide.
Brighton wanted another penalty when Yasin Ayari took a tumble, yet again these calls went unheard.
With just over 20 minutes remaining, Chelsea thought they had a fifth through former Seagull Marc Cucurella, but he was offside on the second ball from a corner and it was disallowed.
A back-and-forth game lulled in the closing stages and Chelsea’s victory was confirmed after five minutes of added time.
Enzo Maresca’s side are now only a point off the top of the table, while Fabian Hurzeler has tasted defeat for first time as Brighton boss.
GK: Robert Sanchez – 3/10 – Endeavoured for his former side to be in the contest somehow by gifting them two goals, which the travelling fans were vocally grateful for. Despite these discrepancies, he did also make some outrageous saves.
RB: Malo Gusto – 5/10 – Not the finest outing for the Frenchman, who was surprisingly lax in possession and had a hard time trying to pin down Mitoma. Committed a foul throw.
CB: Wesley Fofana – 6/10 – Probably the most competent of Chelsea’s defenders, with the bar to clear not particularly high. Did get sent by skinned late in the second half, mind.
CB: Levi Colwill – 6/10 – Guilty of trying to overplay in the lead up to Brighton’s opening goal. Wasn’t too bad from there on out at least, and was usually Chelsea’s best out-ball from the back.
LB: Marc Cucurella – 5/10 – Beaten by Rutter for the first goal of a manic day. Played with a little less confidence than usual.
CM: Moises Caicedo – 6/10 – Given one hell of a sparring session by his Brighton successor Baleba. Brighton’s energy made it harder for Caicedo to do all of the mopping up alone, but he was still a useful presence in midfield.
CM: Enzo Fernandez – 6/10 – A game of ups and downs for the stand-in captain, who took advantage of Brighton’s high line with several crisp balls in behind but also failed at the basics.
RW: Noni Madueke – 7/10 – Made mincemeat of Brighton’s ridiculously high line, though wasn’t able to register a goal contribution of his own.
AM: Cole Palmer – 10/10 – Goodness gracious me. The first player in Premier League history to score four times in a first half. Need we say more? Let the 10 do the talking.
LW: Jadon Sancho – 8/10 – Another week in which Sancho showcased why he is the perfect fit for this system, slowing play down before speeding it up again to run Chelsea attacks. A fine outing on his home debut.
CF: Nicolas Jackson – 7/10 – Caused panic and mayhem among Brighton defenders without somehow finding the net himself.
Substitutes
SUB: Pedro Neto (63′ for Madueke) – 6/10
SUB: Renato Veiga (70′ for Cucurella) – 6/10
SUB: Mykhailo Mudryk (70′ for Sancho) – 5/10
SUB: Christopher Nkunku (79′ for Jackson) – 6/10
SUB: Romeo Lavia (79′ for Fernandez) – 6/10
Subs not used: Filip Jorgensen (GK), Axel Disasi, Tosin Adarabioyo, Joao Felix
Manager
Enzo Maresca – 7/10 – Chelsea are still fine-tuning their first phase of play, but their final-third attacking is already a joy to behold.
GK: Bart Verbruggen – 5/10 – The defenders in front of the Brighton goalkeeper owe him a drink for sure. Had no chance with such recklessness ahead of him.
RB: Ferdi Kadioglu – 4/10 – Neat and tidy on the ball but found out the hard way how much attention you need to pay to succeed as an attacking full-back in the Premier League.
CB: Adam Webster – 3/10 – Too slow and too careless in possession for this system. A difficult day out.
CB: Lewis Dunk – 4/10 – Likewise had his weaknesses exposed by a resurgent and formidable Chelsea attack.
LB: Pervis Estupinan – 4/10 – Played a role in Rutter’s opening goal but that was as good as a tough afternoon got for the left-back. Didn’t provide enough going forward when the going got tough.
CM: Jack Hinshelwood – 5/10 – Skirted round the fringes of the game but didn’t dare try and get involved when push came to shove.
CM: Carlos Baleba – 7/10 – For the most part Brighton’s best player, the engine and brains behind their attacking operation. Sometimes surrendered possession too cheaply but that was more of a team-wide issue.
CM: Mats Wieffer – 6/10 – If Brighton had played with even a semblance of stability at the back, then midfielder Wieffer would’ve been granted more freedom to pull the strings. Alas, he was dragged back into defensive duties too often and this ended up limiting his evident creativity.
RW: Georginio Rutter – 6/10 – Opened the scoring with a brave header, though failed to stamp his authority on the game afterwards.
CF: Danny Welbeck – 5/10 – Popped up in opportune areas every now and then but seldom made the most of those chances.
LW: Kaoru Mitoma – 6/10 – The hype around Mitoma has died down considerably over the last year but he remains one of the Premier League’s best, most gifted and silkiest dribblers. Kept Gusto on his toes.
Substitutes
SUB: Yasin Ayari (57′ for Wieffer) – 5/10
SUB: Igor (57′ for Webster) – 5/10
SUB: Yankuba Minteh (70′ for Rutter) – 5/10
SUB: Julio Enciso (70′ for Kadioglu) – 6/10
SUB: Evan Ferguson (81′ for Welbeck) – 5/10
Subs not used: Jason Steele (GK), Tariq Lamptey, Imari Samuels, Jakub Moder
Manager
Fabian Hurzeler – 5/10 – Brighton are going to be really fun to watch under the Premier League’s youngest-ever manager, but his aggressive high line will cost them too.