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19 mins: Sanchez nearly gifts Brighton a goal! From nothing and nowhere he calmly sidefoots a pass to Mitoma, inside his own penalty area and to the right (as he\u2019s looking) of his goal. Mitoma squares to Hinshelwood, who doesn\u2019t see Chalobah racing back towards his goalline and is a little casual with his finish, and Chalobah gets back in time to clear.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 18 mins: Another Brighton attack, and their problem is that they\u2019ve got too many options. They try to take too many of them, get a bit mixed up, and give it away.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 16 mins: In defence Chelsea\u2019s three men are at sixes and sevens. They win the ball in their own penalty area, have no idea what to do with it, lose it almost instantly, and Rutter shoots high and wide. This is shambolic.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 15 mins: And a save! From that very same move, Gross crosses, Van Hecke rises, but Sanchez deals with the header.<\/p>\n Chelsea goalkeeper Robert S\u00e1nchez pushes the ball over the bar from a header by Brighton\u2019s Jan Paul Van Hecke. Photograph: Javier Garc\u00eda\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.21 EDT<\/p>\n 14 mins: Rutter does an excellent header-while-falling-over on the edge of Chelsea\u2019s penalty area, after winning the ball back.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 13 mins: Chelsea<\/a> get the ball and try to work it around a bit, but Chalobah passes to a space none of his teammates are occupying, and the ball rolls out of play to cheers from the crowd. \u201cI\u2019m watching the game here at home in Philadelphia,\u201d writes Justin Kavanash. \u201cI was going to order in a pizza, but they\u2019ve probably stuck a Fifa World Cup sticker on it at this stage and are charging $100 for delivery. Tea and biscuits, it\u2019ll have to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 11 mins: Rutter has a poor shot from the edge of the area, which hits the nearest defender, when Mitoma was available for an easy pass to his left.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 9 mins: Chelsea<\/a> get forward for the first time, and Delap gets down the right, cuts inside, and accidentally rakes his studs down Kadioglu\u2019s leg as the ball is nicked off him. Free kick.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 5 mins: I think Hato got a pretty clear shove in the back just before he fluffed that header, and him fluffing that header was instrumental to the goal being scored, and that VAR could therefore have got involved there. But he didn\u2019t, and the goal stands.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>GOAL! Brighton 1-0 Chelsea (Kadioglu, 4 mins)<\/p>\n And Brighton score from the corner! It\u2019s swung in from the left, met at the near post by Hato but his clearing header is more of a flick-on, it flies to Kadioglu, and he sidefoots in!<\/p>\n A precise finish from Ferdi Kadioglu opens the scoring. Photograph: Dylan Martinez\/ReutersWhich he\u2019s quite happy about. Photograph: Matthew Childs\/Action Images\/ReutersWhich is not good news for Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior<\/a>. Photograph: Gareth Fuller\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.14 EDT<\/p>\n 3 mins: And nearly a repeat of Mitoma\u2019s goal at Spurs! Gross crosses deep from the right, Mitoma runs into the area, and his half-volley is on its way in before Sanchez flings out a glove to tip it over the bar!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 2 min: Chelsea<\/a> still have the ball. They\u2019ve had one attack, in which Hinshelwood was brought down a few yards outside the penalty area but it looked like the referee was looking the other way, as presumably were his assistants, so no free kick.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 1 min: Peeeeeep! It\u2019s Brighton who get the game under way.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n And now they\u2019re out, and they\u2019re about to play football.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The players are in the tunnel. While they\u2019re there, the referee has singled out the two goalkeepers, having a brief chat to each of them individually about \u2026 well, I\u2019ve no idea.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n And here\u2019s Fabian Hurzeler:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe shouldn\u2019t talk too much about the table, it\u2019s more about our performance, what we want to achieve today. We spoke about consistency, bringing a lot of effort on the pitch, a lot of energy. It\u2019s about controlling the ball in the right way. It\u2019s about breaking them, trying to build good, trying to create chances.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Liam Rosenior has a chat with Sky. He says there will \u201cpossibly\u201d be a change of formations, and in their warm-ups they appear to be preparing a back three. In other news:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe need to make sure it\u2019s a really strong team performance. We have a way that we want to play with and without the ball, our principles don\u2019t change, we just need to go out and perform [like] we did against Manchester United, but we have to be better in both boxes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Cole Palmer has tightness in his hamstring, apparently, hence his absence. Joao Pedro is also spared the burden of looking his former teammates in the eye after they overtake his current employers, with the Brazilian in line to return for this weekend\u2019s FA Cup semi-final against Leeds.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAre Chelsea<\/a> now the Spursiest club in London?\u201d asks Gary Naylor. \u201cOr is that Arsenal?\u201d What Spurs would give to be Spursy right now.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>The teams!<\/p>\n Get yer team news here! Is that a back five Chelsea<\/a> have gone with? Looks like it might be.<\/p>\n Brighton: Verbruggen; Wieffer, Van Hecke, Boscagli, Kadioglu; Minteh, Baleba, Gross, Mitoma; Hinshelwood; Rutter. Subs: Ayari, De Cuyper, Dunk, Kostoulas, O\u2019Riley, Steele, Welbeck, Veltman, Igor Julio. Share<\/a><\/p>\n Hello world! Six defeats in seven games in all competitions, with the one non-defeat an FA Cup win over Port Vale who play in League One and thus doesn\u2019t count, mean Chelsea have all but kissed goodbye to their chances of a place in the top five. Brighton meanwhile have won five of their last seven, all of them in the Premier League<\/a>. On Valentine\u2019s Day Chelsea were fifth and Brighton 13 points back in 14th; if they win tonight Brighton will go above them. \u201cMy job is to be accountable. The buck stops with me,\u201d says the beleaguered Liam Rosenior, whose summer holiday looks increasingly likely to be indefinite in length.<\/p>\n So, and to summarise, actually quite a lot riding on this. Here\u2019s Jacob Steinberg on Chelsea\u2019s sticky spot:<\/p>\n Liam Rosenior has acknowledged his job will be under threat if he cannot turn around Chelsea\u2019s poor form before the end of the season.<\/p>\n Although the head coach recently received public backing from the co-owner Behdad Eghbali, he is aware that retaining long-term support is dependent on results. Chelsea are under growing pressure as four consecutive league defeats have left them seven points off fifth-placed Liverpool with five games to play, and Rosenior was realistic when asked whether his bosses had assured him his future did not hinge on securing Champions League qualification.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had many conversations with them,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very direct question, I like it. They\u2019re supporting me. They believe in me. There\u2019s one thing I haven\u2019t believed \u2013 the reality of the situation. At Chelsea football club, we\u2019ve lost our four last league games. That\u2019s not good enough. So, regardless of what they believe I can achieve with the club in the long term, I need to get results now.\u201d<\/p>\n Much more here:<\/p>\n
Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Fofana, Hato, Cucurella; Caicedo, Lavia; Fernandez, Pedro Neto; Delap. Subs: Acheampong, Adarabioyo, Dario Essugo, Derry, Garnacho, Marc Guiu, Santos, Sarr, Sharman-Lowe.
Referee: Craig Pawson.
VAR: James Bell.<\/p>\n