One winner and four losers as Chelsea suffer 3-1 defeat to Brighton

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What looked like being a routine home win turned into a disheartening 3-1 loss, making it eight points from six games after Brighton’s comeback win against ten-man Chelsea.

It’s a second red card in three games that Enzo Maresca has had to contend with.

The heat will be off Robert Sanchez for his fifth-minute sending off against Man United, and placed now on Trevoh Chalobah, who has been under scrutiny in recent weeks.

He took down in-form Diego Gomez shortly after the break, leaving Chelsea to defend a one-goal lead with one player less.

They couldn’t do it, with Brighton’s late surge winning them the three points. Another disappointing day at the office for the Blues.

Winners

Enzo Fernandez

Enzo got his goal with a typical box-charging run to get on the end of a Reece James cross. He also tested Bart Verbruggen early in the game with a well-struck free kick, and looked the most dangerous of Chelsea’s attackers. Cole Palmer’s absence might not be a detriment if the Argentine can continue putting in this level of performance in the 10.

• READ MORE: Enzo Maresca confirms Chelsea player asked to be substituted off during Brighton loss

Losers

Trevoh Chalobah

Let’s first deal with the obvious. Chalobah added to his Brighton misfortunes, having conceded an own-goal to the Seagulls a few seasons ago. It was a difficult position he was put in, but with the score at 1-0, Chelsea would have been better off conceding. Gomez got in front of him, and there was really no debate. Disappointing.

Josh Acheampong

Unfortunately for the 19-year-old, it was a poor performance from the bench. Acheampong was brought on for Andrey Santos, with the idea from Maresca being to shore up at the back after the sending off. He gave the ball away for Brighton’s inconsequential third and just didn’t look as composed as we know he can be.

Joao Pedro

It wasn’t what Pedro would have had in mind for his first game against his former club. The Brazilian was mostly ineffective over the 90 minutes, not causing his old teammates many issues. Again, this should be caveated by the fact that there were fewer passing options and more space to cover defensively, yet again, but he will be kicking himself for not being more involved.

Enzo Maresca

It’s tough to judge the manager in these last two games. Going down to ten men obviously makes getting a result difficult, but the reactionary changes Maresca made today, and at Old Trafford, just haven’t been effective. They’ve been negative at a time when positivity was needed. The Chelsea boss has to take some of the blame.