Chelsea next five fixtures compared to Tottenham and Arsenal with top four hope after Brighton
Nothing quite puts things into perspective like a set of fans so deprived of joy in the past 18 months singing 'we scored a goal' with genuine conviction having taken the lead against a side they have raided for players, managers, coaches and recruitment staff only to end up wildly on the wrong side of things.
It was hard not to see the contradictions behind Brighton's own supporters aiming jibes at the Blues throughout the game despite eventually losing to a team that fielded three players that they received massively inflated prices for and seem to have replaced without an issue. The biggest investor in their side over 12 months isn't Tony Bloom, it's Todd Boehly's Chelsea.
So spare the Chelsea fans a second.This was the first goal scored by the men's team in September and came in a game that remarkably few would have held much confidence of winning. Brighton have won over double the amount of league games that their opponents on Wednesday had in 2023 heading into the game.
Roberto De Zerbi's side are one of the form teams in the world at this point and Chelsea just aren't. Mauricio Pochettino has been the public facing figure of a laughing stock in recent weeks after taking over a squad with £1billion spent on it, De Zerbi picks up the much more aligned pieces on the south coast.
So here it was, Nicolas Jackson having been taunted all evening by the away fans scoring. Mykhailo Mudryk running Tariq Tamptey into the ground a feeling that maybe Chelsea are back on track somewhat. It's evidence of their recent struggles that beating Brighton has become a big thing but that's the murky reality of it. Now they need to take it into the league or Pochettino will be facing similar unwanted questions again very soon.
Chelsea really
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