Graham Potter had a dreadful homecoming to Amex Stadium as Brighton hammered Chelsea to record their first win under new boss Roberto de Zerbi.
After Thiago Silva, who had previously performed two goal-line clearances to deny the Seagulls, relinquished possession cheaply in his own half, Leandro Trossard’s cool finish put the home side in ahead.
Brighton’s advantage was increased before the interval by two own goals, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek heading through his own net from a Solly March corner and Trevoh Chalobah sliding Pervis Estupinan’s low cross past Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Two minutes after the break, Kai Havertz headed in Conor Gallagher’s superb cross to give the visitors hope, but a second-half Chelsea comeback failed to materialize.
Pascal Gross sealed a dreadful day for Potter and his team with a close-range goal after Edouard Mendy parried Julio Enciso’s drive into the path of the German.
The win moves De Zerbi’s team up to seventh, while Chelsea remains fifth after suffering their first loss under Potter.
Brighton vs. Chelsea reaction, as well as the remainder of Saturday’s Premier League action
Potter was the center of attention as he took command of his first game at Amex Stadium since Brighton’s 5-2 win over Leicester in early September. The 52-year-old was booed when he took his position on the bench by huge parts of the home crowd, and his attitude was not helped by his team’s defensive disaster on the south coast.
Silva almost gave the home side an early lead when his attempted cross-field ball was intercepted by Moises Caicedo, but the veteran center-back made amends with a fine goal-line clearing after Trossard attempted to top Blues goalkeeper Arrizabalaga.
The Brazilian did the same thing seconds later to keep Estupinan’s thunderous effort from crossing the line, but it was his bad pass that enabled Kaoru Mitoma to set up Trossard for the game’s first goal in five minutes.
From the visitors’ viewpoint, the Seagulls’ second and third goals were likewise wholly self-inflicted. Loftus-Cheek used his knee to mistakenly direct Gallagher’s flick-on into the goal through the crossbar, before Estupinan’s pass was steered past his own keeper by the unlucky Chalobah.
Chelsea had chances of their own, with Christian Pulisic shooting wide from close range and Robert Sanchez sending Gallagher’s looping header over the post, but Havertz’s header early in the second half failed to ignite a comeback.
Havertz had a chance to reduce the gap even more but fired over the crossbar from inside the penalty area. Gross then scored off a sharp Brighton counter-attack late on to add salt to Chelsea’s wounds.
While Potter will be encouraged by his team’s second-half improvement, the damage was done before halftime.
Watch the match highlights below;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEsHoIvTph0