Chelsea 4-3 Brighton & Hove Albion: result and report

Report

Chelsea won 4-3, but the one-goal margin hides how clearly they created the better chances. Brighton & Hove Albion had most of the ball and kept coming back, though they never matched the quality of what Chelsea carved out.

Chelsea's fast start

Chelsea were three up inside 32 minutes. Roméo Lavia scored after four minutes. Pedro Neto added a second on 14 minutes from Morgan Rogers' pass. João Pedro made it 3-0 on 32 minutes, set up by Jorrel Hato.

The lead still never felt settled. Malick Yalcouyé pulled one back three minutes later. Then João Pedro turned into his own net on 63 minutes to make it 3-2. Cole Palmer restored the two-goal cushion on 74 minutes, with João Pedro providing the assist. That mattered, because Pascal Groß scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time to make the finish closer than it should have been.

Brighton & Hove Albion: the ball without the chances

The key point is the gap between possession and chance quality. Brighton & Hove Albion had 74% of the ball, 70 dangerous attacks to Chelsea's 23 and 13 shots to 10. Despite that, Chelsea finished with 3.36 xG to Brighton's 1.26.

Chelsea did far more with far less of the ball. They made 14 key passes to Brighton's eight and created six big chances to five. Brighton also missed four of their big chances, while one of their three goals was an own goal. Their territory was real, but it rarely turned into clear openings.

João Pedro at both ends

João Pedro was named player of the match, even though his afternoon had a twist in it. He scored the third goal, put the ball into his own net to bring Brighton back within one, then set up Palmer's decisive fourth. One goal and one assist outweighed the own goal, because the assist killed off Brighton's best spell.