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EPL Brighton and Hove Albion came from behind to beat Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon, a result that means Enzo Maresca’s side have now taken only one point from their past three Premier League games. Chelsea, without ever being perfect, dominated the first half and took the lead in the 24th minute via a close-range header from Enzo Fernandez. It was one of three efforts on target the west Londoners conjured up in the opening 45 minutes, three more than a lacklustre Brighton managed. Advertisement But the second half was a completely different story. First, Trevoh Chalobah was sent off for a professional foul on Diego Gomez, then the visitors — capitalising on their numerical advantage — piled on the pressure, levelling with 13 minutes remaining, Danny Welbeck heading home a cross from the excellent Yankuba Minteh. Chelsea were then fortunate not to give away a penalty after Malo Gusto caught Minteh in the head, before Brighton secured all three points with an added-time header from Maxim De Cuyper and then a second strike from Welbeck. The Athletic’s Simon Johnson analyses a concerning afternoon for the world champions. For the second week running, Chelsea were the authors of their own downfall. Manchester United were effectively gifted three points last Saturday, courtesy of goalkeeper Robert Sanchez getting sent off in the first five minutes for denying a goalscoring opportunity. Maresca said afterwards he would have preferred it if Sanchez had just let Bryan Mbeumo make it 1-0 because then at least 11 Chelsea players were going to still be on the pitch. Chalobah clearly was not listening as he was guilty of the same offence this afternoon, fouling Gomez when he was through on goal. Chelsea had been in complete control up to that point. In fairness to Chalobah, he was put in a vulnerable position after the ball was lost in their own half. The match completely changed though, and Brighton took full advantage, turning the game around with two goals in stoppage time to win 3-1. Worryingly, Chelsea lost their cool too. Sanchez had to physically drag Benoit Badiashile away from a confrontation with Brighton players minutes before they went in front and soon after the France international defender had entered the fray as a 79th-minute substitute. The less said about Gusto’s half-hour contribution off the bench the better. Advertisement This loss extends Chelsea’s winless run in the Premier League to three matches and puts Maresca under quite a bit of pressure ahead of back-to-back home games this week against Jose Mourinho-managed Benfica and champions Liverpool. Surely Maresca has no choice but to bring Axel Disasi back in from the cold now? Chelsea’s centre-back options are dropping like flies. Chalobah has become the latest absentee and will miss next Saturday’s game against champions Liverpool following his red card for a professional foul here. It has been an extraordinary tale of woe at the London club. The misfortune started with Levi Colwill suffering an ACL knee injury on the first day of pre-season training, an issue that will keep him out for most of the campaign. Maresca confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Friday that Tosin Adarabioyo is sidelined with a calf issue until after the October international break. Wesley Fofana also suffered concussion in the Carabao Cup win against Lincoln City in midweek and has to automatically sit out for 12 days. After Chalobah left the field, Chelsea had to rely on two 19-year-olds in Jorrell Hato and Josh Acheampong, surely one of the youngest centre-half pairings in the club’s history, albeit they obviously had help as the home side dropped back. Maresca was at least able to bring back Badiashile, having not played all season before today due to injury, and he came on for Hato in the second half — though is clearly some way from being fully match-fit, otherwise he’d have surely been brought on before Acheampong, who replaced the dismissed Chalobah. Disasi will not be 100 per cent either, having been exiled to the club’s bomb squad all summer while trying to get a move away. Yet he surely has to at least be considered for a bench role to provide some sort of cover for the Liverpool match. Advertisement Chalobah will at least be available for Tuesday’s Champions League home game against Benfica because his suspension does not apply to the competition. His struggle for form of late will be a concern though, as will the fact that a rusty Badiashile and teenagers Hato and Acheampong are the only other choices to face former Chelsea manager Mourinho’s new employers. This was the response Fernandez needed to make. His form has come under a lot of negative scrutiny of late, particularly from certain parts of the fanbase. The Argentina international has looked like one of the players who has struggled most with a post-Club World Cup hangover at times, with some of his runs looking more laboured than usual. But some people have short memories. Fernandez leads the way at Chelsea with goals and assists across 2025 and he added another key intervention to his collection to put the home side in front today. Since Maresca took over last summer, Fernandez has increasingly made more runs into the box to sniff out a chance. He was rewarded for doing just that here, getting on the end of a deflected Reece James cross to head in from close range. It was a smart finish. But his display was not just about that. Playing ahead of Moises Caicedo, he knitted Chelsea moves together neatly in the first half, knocking the ball around with confidence. Inevitably, Fernandez did not have as much of an impact once Chelsea were down to 10 men, but you could see how he was trying to organise his team-mates. One aimless clearance by Sanchez was greeted with an angry rebuke as it handed possession back to Brighton. With 15 minutes remaining, he played a lovely ball for Gusto, enabling him to run down the right flank towards goal. Bizarrely, the full-back cut inside instead, much to Maresca’s fury and disbelief. The Chelsea boss was disappointed after another game turned on a self-inflicted mistake. “They just said to me also in terms of data, we had so many shots in the first half, 70 per cent of possession, everything was fine. And then suddenly, because of our mistake, and then with the red card, again, the plan completely changed. So for me we played two games, first-half, and then unfortunately after the red card.

Advertisement “The message that we just said inside has been quite clear: against any team in the Premier League you cannot continue to give away presents, because what we are doing in this moment is to give away presents in terms of red cards, that is a big mistake because the game completely changed. “For sure we need to learn, and we need to learn quick, so the reason why it can be a mix of experience or a mix of simple mistakes, then in terms of injury, I think that if you just watch the first half today, you don’t think about the injured players, because we were in control, dominating the game, and then, again, I would like to tell you something different, but at the end it’s the reality of the last two games, unfortunately with two red cards everything changed. ” Tuesday, September 30: Benfica (home), Champions League, 8pm UK, 3pm ET (Top photo: Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Simon Johnson has spent the majority of his career as a sports reporter since 2000 covering Chelsea, firstly for Hayters and then the London Evening Standard. This included going to every game home and away as the west London club secured the Champions League in 2012. He has also reported on the England national team between 2008-19 and been a regular contributor to talk SPORT radio station for over a decade. Follow Simon on Twitter @SJohnson Sport