Brighton 1 Chelsea 2
Roberto De Zerbi’s side welcomed Chelsea to the south coast for their penultimate Premier League game of the season. Mauricio Pochettino’s side are chasing down European qualification for next season and knew that only victory would do.
The Seagulls were struggling to put their passing game together and a stray pass was intercepted by Caicdeo, who played it into the path of Gusto. As he ran towards goal, the full back tried his luck from distance and forced a good save from Verbruggen to parry the effort over the bar.
Cucurella was receiving boos whenever on the ball from the home fans. He got his own back as he clipped a cross in from the byline which was superbly headed home by Palmer. It was the former Man City attacker’s 22nd goal of his debut season.
He then turned provider as he whipped a cross in from the left to pick out Jackson in the box but the striker could not keep his shot down as it flew over the top of the goal. Chelsea were dominating the game and Brighton could not get out of their own half.
Credit: @ChelseaFC
Finally The Seagulls managed to find their feet as the ball was worked out wide to Lamptey in acres of space. He took his time before sending in a searching cross to the back post, which was met by the head of Joao Pedro, only to see it thunder against the crossbar.
The visitors held onto their lead until the interval. It seemed some choice words from De Zerbi did their trick. After the restart Lamptey was again causing problems out wide before picking out Gross at the near post. He volleyed wide of the goal as he held his head in his hands knowing what a chance that was.
Pochettino’s side were still looking dangerous whenever they came forward. Gusto in particular was having a great game. He picked out the run of Nkunku, who passed his effort into the bottom corner to double Chelsea’s lead and seemingly seal all three points.
Plenty was expected of the former RB Leipzig attacker but his first season in West London has been ruined by injuries. The Blues will need to wrap Nkunku up in cotton wool if they want to get the best out of him. On his day he can be a game changer.
One other player who has come back from a lengthy lay-off is Reece James. As he looked to get forward down the right he was bundled over and a free kick was awarded. However, VAR saw something in the incident and sent the referee to the monitor.
Looking at the replay, James kicked out at a Brighton player as he went down. The referee adjudged it warranted a straight red card and the defender was given his marching orders, putting an end to the player’s Premier League season.
Credit: @premierleague
Brighton started to dominate the game against the ten men of Chelsea. Gross played a ball into the back post where Adingra met it on the volley, only to see his effort crack against the post with Petrovic well beaten. So close to making the end of this game awkward for the visitors.
Joao Pedro did well getting to the byline down the left, spotting the run of Welbeck. As he fizzed a ball into the near post, the Brighton striker slotted home in the seventh minute of added time. Sadly for The Seagulls it was nothing more than a consolation goal.
Chelsea held on for all three points to move to sixth in the table. Should they win their final game and Tottenham lose, The Blues can still finish fifth in the Premier League. That would be seen as a good finish considering the season they have had.
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