Chelsea‘s miserable run of form continued at the Amex Stadium as their Champions League aspirations were dealt another blow with a 3-0 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Blues made the trip to the south coast having seen their winless run in the Premier League extended to four, each of those defeats coming without them scoring a goal.
And that dismal streak was stretched to five as Brighton leapfrogged them into sixth in the table with a richly deserved victory. It is the first time since 1912 that Chelsea have lost five successive league games without scoring.
Ferdi Kadioglu opened the scoring in the third minute and, despite failing to take further advantage of their first-half dominance, the Seagulls completed a double over Chelsea as Jack Hinshelwood doubled their advantage in the 56th minute.
Chelsea never looked like mounting a comeback and Danny Welbeck added late gloss to the scoreline as he capped a superb night for Brighton in style as they moved two points clear of the Blues.
Liam Rosenior’s beleaguered side remain seven points behind fifth-placed Liverpool in the race for the top-five place that would guarantee qualification for Champions League.
Liverpool can stretch that gap to 10 by beating Crystal Palace on Saturday, meaning that Chelsea will likely be left hoping Aston Villa can win the Europa League and turn sixth place into a Champions League spot. After a performance in which they did not manage a shot on target and with Brighton in this kind of form, even a top-six finish looks fanciful for Chelsea right now.
Chelsea cut apart by brilliant Brighton
Brighton started brilliantly and, after Kaoru Mitoma saw a far-post half-volley brilliantly turned over by Robert Sanchez, the hosts opened the scoring from the resulting corner.Â
The delivery to the near post was headed away by Jorrel Hato, but only as far as Kadioglu, whose powerful drive left Sanchez with no chance.
Sanchez was required to produce another fine save to tip over a Jan Paul van Hecke header, but the former Brighton goalkeeper was almost left red-faced as he sent a pass straight to Carlos Baleba, with only the intervention of Trevoh Chalobah on the goal line preventing Hinshelwood from making it 2-0.
Chelsea were somewhat improved to start the second half, but a team missing Joao Pedro, Cole Palmer and Estevao never truly threatened to find a way back into the contest.
And they were caught on the counter following one of their sporadic forays forward, with Brighton breaking rapidly after handball claims against Yankuba Minteh were waved away.
Brilliant work from Georginio Rutter gave Brighton a two-on-two, and he teed up Hinshelwood to double the lead with a composed finish.
Kadioglu was then twice denied by a pair of Sanchez saves before Alejandro Garnacho and Marc Guiu saw opportunities go begging for Chelsea, whose miserable night was completed when Welbeck fired in from Maxim De Cuyper’s pull back.
The FA Cup looks Chelsea’s most likely route to salvaging something positive from a campaign that is falling apart. But amid their awful run of form, a win over Leeds United in Sunday’s semi-final is far from a guarantee.
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