Enzo Maresca confirms Chelsea player asked to be substituted off during Brighton loss

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Enzo Maresca was extremely busy on the sidelines during his side’s defeat at home to Brighton, making multiple changes as a Trevoh Chalobah red card turned the game on its head. It turns out that one Chelsea player had to come off the pitch because of cramp, too.

Chelsea only have themselves to blame for a 3-1 loss on Saturday against Brighton in the Premier League.

The Blues were in front through Enzo Fernandez’s opener and playing well against the Seagulls. However, Trevoh Chalobah’s red card early in the second half completely changed the momentum because Brighton used their numerical advantage to score three goals.

Chelsea missed Cole Palmer and other injured stars for the Brighton fixture, but they still had a strong enough team out to get a result. The reality is they made it so much harder than it needed to be after going down to 10 men for the second league match in a row because Chalobah emulated Robert Sanchez’s red card against Manchester United.

• READ MORE: What Behdad Eghbali and senior Chelsea figures were spotted doing straight after Brighton loss

Jorrel Hato forced off with cramp against Brighton

In his post-match press conference, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca shared that Jorrel Hato, 19, asked to come off the pitch against Brighton late on due to cramp.

“And then the last change, Jorrel was asking for a change because he had cramp,” Maresca said via Football.London.

Yet again, Maresca may be under the microscope for some of his defensive substitutions when Chelsea went down to 10 men. It turns out that the Hato swap in central defence was a forced one, though.

Here is a look at the four changes he made during the league fixture.

Paul Merson claimed Maresca would be under pressure if Chelsea slipped up against Brighton because it underlines an average start to the season, so let’s wait and see what happens next.

Jorrel Hato display vs Brighton

Hato, who cost Chelsea £37m (BBC) to sign from Ajax this summer, made just his second Premier League start in the Brighton defeat. Therefore, it’s not the greatest surprise that he suffered with cramp pains late on.

The teenage defender has been playing left-back so far in his short Blues career, but he operated at centre-half this week amid the defensive injury crisis right now.

There are worrying reports that indicate Chelsea could loan Hato in January, but we would like to see the youngster given a lot more time to find his feet in his new home. It would be harsh to write him off after a few shaky performances.