- Brighton beat Chelsea 2-1 on Saturday to progress to the FA Cup fifth round
- The Blues had looked like realistic title contenders just two months ago
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Two months on from the day Chelsea came from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur and put themselves in the mix as title contenders, their only hope of silverware this season is now the Europa Conference League.
A competition where Chelsea’s squad value is marginally less than all of the other teams involved in it combined.
The day after that win against Spurs in December, the backpage of this newspaper was headlined ‘Now fans can dream’.
Enzo Maresca‘s side were five games into an eight-match winning streak and only four points behind Liverpool in the Premier League.
Maresca warned that his side weren’t ready for a title charge but the downfall has been brutal, with just three wins in their last ten.
Perhaps the most concerning part of this feeble display on the south coast was the lack of threat they posed in the final third, with just one attempt on target and that came in the third minute.
Chelsea were dumped out of the FA Cup at the fourth-round stage after losing to Brighton
The manner of the defeat will be a concern for Enzo Maresca, whose side have struggled of late
Blues star Cole Palmer had a rare off day as his team slumped to a 2-1 defeat on Saturday night
Bart Verbruggen inexplicably let in Cole Palmer’s cross in the fifth minute but after that, he wasn’t forced to make a save.
To not test an under-pressure goalkeeper after such a howler was baffling from a Chelsea perspective.
They came into the game without a recognised striker with Nicolas Jackson out injured though he is expected to be fit when they play Brighton again on Friday.
‘Sometimes you need to play games without a player to realise how important they are’, said Maresca.
When Christopher Nkunku, who started down the middle, was through on goal midway through the half, he chose to square the ball and wasted a golden opportunity. That was his only touch in the Brighton box.
On the flanks, Jadon Sancho was a passenger, hardly testing Joel Veltman even after the full-back was booked while Pedro Neto hardly set the game alight.
Increasingly, the decision to offload Joao Felix, who scored on his AC Milan debut last week, seems crazy even if Maresca insisted that Chelsea didn’t miss him.
Palmer had a rare off day too. He scored four goals in 20 minutes the last time these two sides met but this was a reminder that he can’t always do it all alone.
Kaoru Mitoma’s deft finish turned the tie on its head – and it was no less than Brighton deserved
By the time the whistle went, most of the travelling support had headed for the exits. Under the ownership of Roman Abramovich, Chelsea never went more than two years without silverware but for now, their wait since 2021 goes on.
For Brighton, who have never won a major honour, this was the perfect antidote to their 7-0 thrashing at Nottingham Forest as they won their first home game since November.
In the week since, Fabian Hurzeler burnt his tactical plans for that match in front of his players then took the time to have one-on-ones with them to understand the situation.
Veltman, who is two years older than Hurzeler said that in training, it was ‘the best week ever, quality wise and intensity wise.’
That’s probably the kind of week Maresca and co need before they return to Brighton this week. Otherwise, they risk dropping out of the top four.