Two own goals as Chelsea suffer shock defeat on Potter’s Brighton return
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah both scored own goals as Chelsea were beaten in a nightmare return to the Amex Stadium for former Brighton boss Graham Potter.
The Blues were three down by the interval and rarely looked like pulling off a comeback despite Kai Havertz pulling a goal back.
Havertz missed a late chance to make it 3-2 and Pascal Gross’ stoppage-time goal rubbed salt into Chelsea’s wounds.
By the time Leandro Trossard put Brighton ahead after just five minutes, Thiago Silva had already twice saved the visitors by heading off the line – once after his own mistake.
Another Silva error led to the opener. After the Brazilian gave the ball away, Kaoru Mitoma laid it off to Trossard, who rounded keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and fired past two Chelsea defenders.
Brighton doubled their lead on 14 minutes when Loftus-Cheek’s attempt to clear Solly March’s corner resulted in him slicing the ball in off the underside of the bar.
And worse followed for Potter’s side shortly before half-time when Pervis Estupiñán collected Moises Caciedo’s pass and played the ball into the six-yard box, where Chalobah poked it into his own net.
Conor Gallagher, who failed to take a great chance in the first half, atoned early in the second by crossing for Havertz to head home.
But Chelsea, previously unbeaten under Potter, continued to make errors at the other end.
Eduoard Mendy, who replaced the injured Kepa at half-time, was involved in a mix-up with Silva and later presented the ball straight to Mitoma.
Gross tapped in the loose ball after Mendy had denied Julio Enciso – much to the delight of the home fans, who gave Potter a hostile reception.
“I had no expectations (of what kind of reception he would receive),” Potter said afterwards.
“I have nothing to say sorry for or apologise for. I did a good job. You can see the (Brighton) team is a good team. I took over when they were fourth from bottom in the Premier League.”
Chelsea: Kepa (Mendy 45), Chalobah, Silva, Cucurella (Chilwell 64), Sterling (Aubameyang 63), Loftus-Cheek, Kovacic, Gallagher (Ziyech 79), Mount, Pulisic (Broja 79), Havertz.
Subs not used: Jorginho, Zakaria, Azpilicueta, Hutchinson.
