One winner and four losers from Chelsea’s defeat vs Brighton, including Noni Madueke and Christopher Nkunku

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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has a lot to process after watching his side’s extremely flat performance in Friday night’s defeat against Brighton.

Chelsea suffered a 3-0 away loss versus Brighton in the Premier League fixture. It came just six days after the same opposition knocked them out of the FA Cup, too.

Chelsea’s owners are still happy with Maresca despite the team’s recent drop off, but we’re not sure the fanbase feels the same way.

The Blues find themselves in the thick of a busy race for Champions League qualification because they’ve lost consistency in recent months. In fact, they’ve now dropped from fourth to sixth in the table after Saturday’s results.

• READ MORE: What Chelsea just did in Brighton defeat for the first time in over three years, it’s an unwanted record for Enzo Maresca’s team

Winners

The truth is Friday’s defeat at the Amex Stadium was torturous for Chelsea fans to watch. If we have to pick out one winner, it’s a player who did at least demonstrate some heart and intent against Brighton…

Tyrique George

Tyrique George, who’s a product of the Chelsea academy, came on as a substitute against Brighton for the final 25 minutes. Incidentally, it was only his second ever Premier League appearance.

The 19-year-old winger showed during his brief cameo the kind of directness and skill that was so blatantly missing from so many of his peers on the pitch.

Jason Cundy praised George’s Chelsea display at Brighton as he made a positive impact on a really difficult evening.

It’s not too much to suggest that the teenager should be a frontrunner to start the club’s next match, which is a trip to Aston Villa in the Premier League. He deserves more minutes because the other wide men at the club aren’t pulling their weight right now as attacking threats.

Losers

Unfortunately, so many individuals in Chelsea colours came out of the latest match with a red cross by their name. Here is a look at the Blues players who were the biggest losers from the Brighton result…

Trevoh Chalobah

It was great to see Trevoh Chalobah, 25, in Chelsea’s starting line-up again because he was recalled early from a season-long loan at Crystal Palace in January to play football.

While the central defender impressed when he first came back, he’s starting to make a few individual mistakes at the back. In the Brighton defeat, he definitely could’ve defended a lot tighter and more aggressively for Kaoru Mitoma’s wonder goal.

Chalobah should be worried that Chelsea centre-back Wesley Fofana is nearing an injury return because we expect he’ll replace him in the starting line-up. On top of that, Tosin Adarabioyo may have a good case to start over Chalobah in the next match.

The Blues have definitely treated Chalobah harshly in the last year, but perhaps we’re seeing why he can’t be a first-choice centre-back at the club.

Christopher Nkunku

Yet again, Christopher Nkunku epically failed his audition as Chelsea’s No 9 against Brighton.

It’s common knowledge that the 27-year-old attacker isn’t playing his best position when he leads the line, but he’s simply got to do so much more on and off the ball.

His latest performance should make it a lot harder to keep picking Nkunku in the starting line-up, especially as the striker.

Tony Cascarino ripped into Maresca for picking Nkunku against Brighton and labelled him “non-existent”.

Noni Madueke

Noni Madueke started and lasted just 20 minutes before he was forced off against Brighton with a hamstring injury.

The bad news is that Maresca has confirmed Chelsea winger Madueke will be out “for a while” after pulling up at the Amex Stadium.

He’s a significant loser from the recent match because he’s joining a fairly large injury list, which is not where he wants to be right now.

On top of his Chelsea form, the 22-year-old right-winger must have aspirations of earning more international caps. It now looks like he may be unavailable for when new England manager Thomas Tuchel picks his first Three Lions squad in March.

Filip Jorgensen

Even though Filip Jorgensen has only just earned his spot as Chelsea’s No 1 goalkeeper, it already feels like there may be some pressure against his name.

The 22-year-old certainly isn’t inspiring any confidence since replacing Robert Sanchez. In fact, there are already question marks about his shot-stopping abilities, especially after his weak glove couldn’t keep out Mitoma’s effort for Brighton.

Jorgensen will need a few more games to really show if he’s good enough to start in-between the sticks long-term, but the fact we’re having a conversation about him is a worrying sign. For Sanchez, he should believe that a recall for the Premier League isn’t too far away.

The eye test will tell you that Jorgensen has the edge over Sanchez with the ball at his feet, but everyone will be keeping a close watch to see if he improves in the save department.