How the Seagulls rated against Chelsea
Albion boosted their European chances with a comfortable 3-0 home win against Chelsea.
Goals from Ferdi Kadioglu, Jack Hinshelwood and Danny Welbeck saw Albion leapfrog Chelsea and move up to sixth in the table. Liam Rosenior’s out-of-sorts team failed to register a shot on target.
Brighton started well and took the lead after three minutes. A corner was floated in and worked it's way to Kadioglu who fired home, via a deflection from Wesley Fofana. It was Kadioglu's first goal of the season and Albion's fastest Premier League goal since March 2024.
Chelsea were terrible and Brighton should have turned their dominance into more goals. Yankuba Minteh, Jan Paul van Hecke and Georginio all had chances, while Hinshelwood missed the best opportunity when his tame side-foot effort was cleared off the line after an error from Robert Sanchez.
Albion's dominance told after the break and Hinshelwood this time delivered a clinical finish on 56 minutes after Georginio's inch-perfect assist. Substitute Welbeck then added a a sharp third after fine work from Maxim De Cuyper.
A very satisfactory day all round for Brighton. Worrying times for Chelsea.
How they rated
Bart Verbruggen - 6: Chelsea failed to register a shot on target and the Dutch keeper could have played with a cigar and slippers.
Mats Wieffer - 6: He had little to do defensively and advanced into such good positions but to casual or wayward with his final pass. Replaced at halftime by Veltman.
Olivier Boscagli - 8: Quite rightly kept his place in the team ahead of Lewis Dunk and once again performed well. Handled Delap very well and good with the ball.
Jan Paul van Hecke - 8: Forced a great save from Sanchez with a powerful header from Gross' delivery. Superb defensively.
Ferdi Kadioglu - 9: A lovely finish from the Türkiye international to open the scoring, may have taken a slight deflection but who cares!? Dealt well with the dangerous Neto. Forced two fine saves from Sanchez in quick succession. Energy bomb.
Carlos Baleba - 8: A very solid evenings work. Didn't try to be the best player on the pitch and looked all the better for it. Strong, athletic and nice and easy in possession. A good 90 minutes, possibly hois best of the season.
Pascal Gross - 7: A lovely cross in from the right with his left foot to tee up Van Hecke's chance. A midfield master. Clever in possession and covered gaps and spaces when needed. Strangely his final ball was a little off.
Yankuba Minteh - 6: A live wire on the right and looked determined to add a goal to his tally. Just could not create enough space at times to get his shots away. Replaced by De Cuyper on 75 minutes.
Kaoru Mitoma - 7: Some nice touches in the first half but was often on the fringes of the match. Fired a left footed effort just wide after a sharp turn on 53 minutes. Unlucky with a spectacular volley that just eluded the top corner. Replaced by Ayari on 81 minutes.
Jack Hinshelwood - 8: He had a golden chance to make it 2-0 after a Sanchez error but lacked conviction and his effort was easily cleared off the line by Chalobah. But he more than made up for it with a classy first time effort to give Albion a 2-0 lead. Pressing was excellent.
Georginio - 7: Flashed an effort just wide on 15 minutes. Tried to pick out the top corner but just didn't get the bend on it. A very nice assist from Hinshelwood’s goal. Replaced by Welbeck on 81 minutes.
Substitutes: Joel Veltman 7: Superb defending to prevent a goal on 69 minutes after a rare incisive move from Chelsea. Maxim De Cuyper 7 - nice assist for Welbeck, Yasin Ayari 6, Danny Welbeck 7 - lovely finish.
Continue Reading