Chelsea missed the opportunity to go second after dropping points for the 9th time in 13 games after a resilient Brighton got their 11th draw of the season. The second time in 2 weeks, Brighton got another draw against Chelsea after Welbeck scored a late winner the last time out.
Brighton proved to be hard to beat and in a game you would expect Chelsea to do better, Brighton actually played better and were let down with tiny details that could have given them the win on the night. Chelsea would go back to the drawing board as the title keeps slipping away from the grasp.
In the 3rd minute, after a lovely exchange of passes, Brighton managed to have a decent chance on goal but Moder was unable to steer his shot on target from a decent angle. He let Chelsea off the hook there.
Chelsea had a chance of theirs in the 15th minute after a brilliant inside the foot shot by Azpilicueta after being fed on the edge of the box by Romelu Lukaku. Sanchez made sure he was up to it as he parried it away for a corner kick.
Chelsea finally got the first goal of the game which they would be delighted about to put their below-par performance behind them and it came from Ziyech who registered his 5th goal of the season in the 28th minute. He rewarded the faith of the manager who has been using him consistently of late. He received the pass from Ngolo Kante and decided to have a go at it which beat the goalkeeper at his near post from a long-range. The goalkeeper should have done better but you can't take that effort away from Ziyech.
A minute before halftime, Hudson Odoi had the chance to extend Chelsea's lead and despite being at a vantage point, he shockingly blasted his shot way over the bar with better options around him. He went for power rather than placement and he couldn't keep his shot down.
Brighton started the second half well and under 30 seconds, Danny Welbeck was found just inside the box but he was unable to steer his shot on target as it flew wide. He should be taking advantage of such a chance especially against a formidable opponent like Chelsea.
Thiago Silva showed himself to be a rock in that defence for Chelsea after Welbeck raced on goal, he managed to rob Welbeck off the ball in the box and in the 53rd minute, he provided the last-ditch tackle to force a corner and prevent Lamptey's cut back into the box.
Kepa came through for his side in the 60th minute after Mac Allister's deflected strike was swiftly saved by Kepa for a corner kick as the ball was destined for the back of the net but a minute after, he couldn't prevent Webster's free header from the resulting corner kick after Webster got enough time on his hand to head freely just when he eluded everyone. The defence of Chelsea was caught napping there and got punished as a result.
Alonso had a shot at the edge of the box in the 66th minute which flew off target much to the frustration of Romelu Lukaku who cut a frustrated figure all through the match up to that point. Brighton came close on numerous occasions through Webster, Lamptey and Maupay but they couldn't get that cutting edge to get ahead for the first time in the game. They dominated and restricted Chelsea to defending and counterattacks.
Lukaku finally got a chance in the game in the 73rd minute after being found inside the box as he cleverly beat the offside trap but he was denied by the alertness of the goalkeeper. The resulting corner kick was also blocked off giving Azpilicueta no chance to steer the ball goal-ward.
Chelsea couldn't break a resilient Brighton defence away from home and Brighton got a deserved 1 point and they could have won if they were not sloppy in the attacks.
Thank you for your time.
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