Chelsea suffered their second defeat against Brighton and Hove Albion in just five days as the Seagulls secured a 3-0 win during the Premier League clash on Friday evening.
Having sent the Blues packing out of the FA Cup, the south coast side were keen to claim their first league win since a 3-1 victory over Manchester United last month.
In the first half, goals from Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh set Brighton on their way, before Minteh rounded off an impressive performance with another effort in the second half.
The Stamford Bridge side couldn’t get in the game, creating just one big chance throughout the 90 minutes.
Chelsea’s best and worst performers vs Brighton
Not many Chelsea players enjoyed a good game. Levi Colwill did win eight of his nine total duels while enjoying a 93% pass success rate, yet this was as impressive as it got for the away side.
Cole Palmer failed to light up the AMEX, managing just two shots, which were both off target, along with failing to deliver a single accurate cross from five attempts.
Metric
Highest-Ranked
Accurate passes
Levi Colwill (113)
Ground duels won
Yankuba Minteh (10)
Key passes
Yankuba Minteh (3)
Shots on target
Yankuba Minteh and Kaoru Mitoma (2)
Tackles
Yankuba Minteh and Carlos Baleba (5)
Elsewhere, Marc Cucurella was dribbled past twice and lost possession eight times against Brighton, while Moises Caicedo was taken off after 65 minutes for failing to influence the match against his former team.
Arguably, the worst performer was Pedro Neto, however, as the Portuguese winger offered very little in the final third, on the left or the right flank.
Pedro Neto’s game in numbers vs Brighton
Since joining from Wolves last summer in a deal worth around £54m, but at this moment in time, the Old Gold certainly appear to have gotten the better end of the deal.
The winger has scored just four goals throughout the entire campaign, which is hardly the type of return to justify such a big transfer fee.
He was deployed on the left wing against the Seagulls, yet struggled to create much going forward. Indeed, Neto completed just 18 passes – 17 fewer than goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen – while missing a big chance and making only one key pass.
The former Wolves man did attempt six dribbles during his time on the pitch, yet could only succeed with one. Furthermore, he won just three of his 11 total duels contested, lost possession 13 times, and failed to get a shot on target before he was subbed off after 65 minutes
A wasteful display indeed. Journalist Fraser Watson of the Express gave the 24-year-old a match rating of 4/10 for his display, stating that he ‘had an awful night. Lost possession in attack and lacked composure, twice firing wildly wide before being hooked off’ during the tie.
Will Enzo Maresca drop him to the bench for the next Premier League match against Aston Villa next weekend? Or shall he persist with the winger?
Chelsea have suffered a major drop-off since the start of 2025 and the manager will need his side to improve if he wishes to secure a top-four finish in the league, which is why the manager should react to this poor display by dropping him to the bench against the Villans.
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