Roberto De Zerbi has finally announced himself at the top flight of English football after Brighton ran out 4-1 winners against visiting Chelsea at the American Express Community Stadium.
The Italian tactician and former Unione Sportiva Sassuolo Calcio and FC Shakhtar Donetsk manager took up his latest posting on the south coast of England in the wake of Graham Potter’s departure amidst a spirit of optimism around his appointment given his managerial pedigree in recent years but struggled to get up and running in the Premier League after he was gifted an incredibly difficult set of fixtures to adapt to life on English shores.
But the storyboard today wrote itself, as Potter returned to his old stomping grounds but was reminded of what he left behind after his Blues outfit was thoroughly dispatched on their travels.
Leandro Trossard continued to showboat his influence in a Brighton kit and opened the scoring just seven minutes into proceedings and the deficit for Chelsea doubled just nine minutes later on the back of an own goal from Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Things would go from bad to worse for Potter and Marc Cucurella on their return when another own goal, this time from another Chelsea academy product in Trevoh Chalobah, put the Seagulls 3-0 ahead three minutes from the interval.
Potter then tried to flip the script at half-time and replaced in-form Kepa Arrizabalaga for former number one Édouard Mendy, and German international Kai Havertz got the Blues on the scoresheet three minutes after the re-start in what was almost a lifeline to get the Premier League giants back in the fight.
But it was to be nothing more than a consolation for Potter, who would go on to remove Cucurella in the 64th minute in what was a poor return for the Spaniard himself, with Brighton eventually going on to bag their fourth goal on a memorable afternoon in stoppage time when fan-favorite Pascal Groß made it 4-1 a minute into stoppage time.
With De Zerbi’s first win in the books in England and Brighton’s first win over Chelsea since 1933 achieved, the Seagulls climb up to seventh and are now just three points from Potter’s men who sit fifth in the table and within striking distance given that Chelsea still has yet to face Newcastle United, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City.
Brighton Player Ratings
GK: Robert Sánchez (8)
RB: Pascal Groß (7.5)
CB: Adam Webster (7)
CB: Lewis Dunk (7)
LB: Pervis Estupiñán (7.5)
CM: Alexis Mac Allister (7)
CM: Moises Caicedo (7.5)
CAM: Adam Lallana (6.5)
RW: Solly March (7)
LW: Kaoru Mitoma (7)
CF: Leandro Trossard (8)
Sub: Julio Enciso (6.5)
Sub: Tariq Lamptey (6)
Sub: Jeremy Sarmiento (6)
Chelsea Player Ratings
GK: Kepa Arrizabalaga (5.5)
RCB: Trevoh Chalobah (5)
CB: Thiago Silva (7)
LCB: Marc Cucurella (5.5)
RWB: Christian Pulisic (6)
CM: Ruben Loftus-Cheek (6)
CM: Mateo Kovačić (5.5)
LWB Raheem Sterling (6)
RAM: Conor Gallagher (7)
LAM: Mason Mount (6)
CF: Kai Havertz (7)
Sub: Édouard Mendy (6.5)
Sub: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (6)
Sub: Ben Chilwell (6)
Sub: Hakim Ziyech (6)
Sub: Armando Broja (6)
