After the final whistle blew at the Amex, Chelsea reached new lows in the club’s history. They have now lost five straight games in the Premier League without scoring a single goal, an unwanted feat which was only matched by the Blues back in 1912.
The Blues’ last goal in the league came against Aston Villa back on March 5, which was also their last win. Since then, they have now lost against Newcastle United, Everton, Manchester City, Manchester United and Brighton. Over those five games, they have conceded eleven times without scoring.
Their chances of finishing inside the top five spots is as good as over. The Blues are currently placed eighth in the league table, seven points behind fifth-placed Liverpool, who also have a game in hand.
How does the future looks like for Chelsea?
Chelsea could even drop to 11th in the table after the end of Matchday 34 as Brentford, Everton and Sunderland are right on their heels with a game in hand.
The scoreline could have been much worse for the Blues if not for Robert Sanchez. The visitors were unable to register a single shot on target compared to the Seagulls’ seven, which also included the goal-line clearance from Trevoh Chalobah in the 18th minute.
A vulnerable Chelsea midfield
The Blues looked completely clueless against the home side throughout the game as Rosenior failed to devise a plan to stop Brighton’s free-flowing football from both the wings as the likes of Kaoru Mitoma and Ferdi Kadioglu stretched the Blues throughout the 90 minutes.
Rosenior’s defensive midfielders were always on the back foot as the Seagulls glided past Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia and also Darrio Essugo later in the second half. They looked pale in front of the brilliance of Carlos Baleba and Jack Hinshelwood. That should worry the Blues considering the money that has been spent on assembling that midfield.
Brighton’s second goal came after 10 minutes from the start of the second half as Georginio Rutter delivered a well-timed pass onto the path of Hinshelwood to put the ball past the Chelsea goalkeeper after Caicedo and Chalobah failed to deal with the long ball, which was catapulted from the Brighton box.
Absence of quality attackers
The lack of attacking options available to the Blues’ manager turned out to be a major problem throughout the game. Both Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer missed the game due to their respective injuries, as a result of which Liam Rosenior had no option but to field Liam Delap. Marc Guiu eventually replaced the subpar summer signing during the 73rd minute of the game, but to no effect.
Another key summer signing, Alejandro Garnacho, was also introduced early in the second half as Rosenior decided to take off Wesley Fofana in the 47th minute. But the Argentine winger delivered yet another unproductive performance, and despite making a few energetic runs down the left flank, he lacked decisiveness inside the box.
Defensive lapses
The Blues’ inability to hold defensive structure under Rosenior was yet again evident against Brighton as their centre-back pairings left significant gaps between themselves for the opposition forwards to exploit throughout the game. More so when the high crosses were delivered by the Seagulls’ wingers.
As the Blues’ Champions League dreams look seemingly over, they must quickly return to the drawing board before facing Leeds United in the FA Cup semifinals.
Rosenior has now been sacked and Calum McFarlane will take charge of the team. It remains to be seen if that can result in some sort of bounce performance. It is equally likely that things will continue in this manner.