What a difference a week has made for Fabian Hürzeler. There were plenty of Brighton supporters who would have justifiably viewed this fixture with some trepidation given their abject performance in the record 7-0 Premier League defeat at Nottingham Forest. But despite falling behind to a dreadful error from Bart Verbruggen when he spilled Cole Palmer’s cross into his own net after just five minutes, a rousing comeback inspired by Georginio Rutter, their record signing, made it a night to remember against opponents that are not the most popular in these parts given recent history between the two clubs.
There were wild celebrations when Kaoru Mitoma – who was the subject of a £61m bid from Al-Nassr during the transfer window – put Brighton ahead midway through the second half after Rutter had equalised with a clever header, with Hürzeler enjoying his moment of redemption as his side recorded their first win here since beating Manchester City at the start of November.
“It was just what the doctor ordered,” said the Brighton manager. “We’ve had a tough week and the guys showed real character to come back after the start we had. It’s important to stay calm and not overreact when things don’t go your way.”
Enzo Maresca felt that there had been a handball in the buildup to Mitoma’s winning goal but this was another disappointing away performance from his expensively assembled side, who have now gone five matches on the road without victory.
“For sure we need to learn how to win games 1-0,” said Maresca, whose side also took an early lead last week at Manchester City. “It’s a shame but if there is something positive about this it is that now we can focus on the Premier League and Conference League.”
Hürzeler’s watchword this week following the humiliation against Forest had been “intensity”, with the Brighton manager admitting that there had been some honest exchanges with his players in training. He certainly got a response, with the lynchpin Carlos Baleba impressing in midfield on his return from injury and Rutter providing some of the cutting edge that has been missing in recent weeks.
Maresca usually likes to rotate almost his entire side for cup matches but this was more a hybrid team that featured six changes from the comeback win against Graham Potter’s West Ham last week and they lacked cohesion throughout. With the strikers Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu both out injured, Christopher Nkunku was ineffective in attack as Brighton comfortably closed out the win.
Potter was one of 11 players or staff poached by Chelsea in the space of 17 months and the antipathy towards them clearly remains among the home supporters, with Moisés Caicedo, Marc Cucurella and Robert Sánchez roundly booed from the first whistle until the last. But they and Hürzeler could not have had a worse start as Chelsea were handed the lead inside the opening five minutes by Verbruggen’s blunder. The Brighton goalkeeper had already been called into a save when he tipped Palmer’s shot over the bar and there seemed to be no danger when Palmer volleyed the ball across goal from Jadon Sancho’s pass. Yet Verbruggen took his eye off the ball and it somehow squirmed out of his grasp.
Fortunately for him, Brighton were level six minutes later when Rutter’s precise header found the bottom corner from Joel Veltman’s cross. Nkunku surprisingly decided against shooting when he was played in on goal and Palmer’s looping header from his pass missed the target in the closest Chelsea had come to restoring their lead.
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Lewis Dunk was withdrawn at the break, the Brighton captain having received treatment during the first half, but Jack Hinshelwood shrugged off the pain when he was struck in the chest by a fierce shot from Neto at the start of the second period.
The hosts took the lead after a spell of incessant pressure that began when Baleba pirouetted on the edge of his own area and then released Yankuba Minteh down the right. A clever piece of improvisation from Rutter after Tariq Lamptey’s shot was blocked played in Mitoma and he managed to flick the ball into the net over the despairing Sánchez after chesting it into his own path.
Maresca responded by introducing Enzo Fernández off the bench and the Argentina midfielder’s first act was to strike a shot well off target. That was pretty much as close as Chelsea came to equalising and there was an even bigger cheer when the £115m man Caicedo was booked for clattering into Lamptey as Brighton probed for a third that their dominance would have fully deserved.
Source: theguardian.com
