Chelsea already have perfect Ben Chilwell replacement after injury scare as Fulham change forced

And so the questions begin once again for Mauricio Pochettino, even in the face of an undoubted success and probably Chelsea's biggest domestic victory in near enough 18 months. It was with youth, as always, that the Blues took on Brighton and with three of their oldest five players on the field the average age was still just 22.2.

The most senior of these, and wearing the captain's armband, was Ben Chilwell. The 26-year-old, in his natural left-back slot, made-up a fundamental part of a patchwork defence. Alongside Axel Disasi and Levi Colwill with Marc Cucurella shifted to the right, Ian Maatsen coming back from an attacking position to double up on Kaoru Mitoma, Chilwell helped limit Brighton's dangerous play.

The visitors were threatening at times, as you would expect for one of the most well-drilled and in-form teams across the continent, but only truly tested Robert Sanchez twice. In terms of clearcut chances, Chelsea had just as many and could have been in the sunset and away had it not been for two refereeing errors.

Sanchez, who played hot potato with the ball at his own feet throughout the first half, showing Brighton, Roberto De Zerbi, his teammates and perhaps Mauricio Pochettino just why he was eventually relegated to third-choice goalkeeper due to fallibilities in possession, caused his own issues. In the second half the design was more conservative and industrial.

Nicolas Jackson took a lot more high balls down and there weren't many times that the Spaniard dallied or put his teammates under pressure. It was during the opening period that Chilwell, acting with experience and a sense of desperation to avoid total self-sabotage, continuously gestured to his 'keeper to calm down.

It was evidence of just why the