It’s Danny joy for Brighton as Tuchel sees lead slip again
Brighton had never scored at Stamford Bridge and for 90 minutes it was tempting to wonder if they ever would. graham Potter’s side dominated Chelsea for long periods, passing fluently, generating pressure and creating chances, before failing to convert them.
Then Marc Cucurella clipped one more cross into the Chelsea penalty area and Danny Welbeck found space between Antonio rudiger and trevoh Chalobah, sprang high and powered a header past Edouard Mendy.
It was a reminder of Welbeck’s quality and a point was no more than Brighton deserved. For Chelsea it was a punch to the guts.
They had led since the 28th minute when romelu Lukaku headed in from a corner, and the European champions spent the rest of the game trying to protect the slender lead.
When the ball went out with seven minutes to go, the nervous home crowd refused to throw it back. it was that kind of a night
Thomas tuchel sent on n’golo Kante to close out the victory and he must have thought his team had made it.
Chelsea go into the new year as the closest challengers to Manchester City at the top of the Premier League but they will regret more dropped points and more injuries, to reece James and Andreas Christensen, ahead of Sunday’s clash with Liverpool.
James started at left wing back as tuchel tried to ease the burden on Marcos Alonso, after confirmation that knee surgery is likely to rule Ben Chilwell out for the rest of the season. Christian Pulisic dropped into the role on the right.
At one end, James was responsible for policing Brighton livewire tariq Lamptey, a Chelsea academy graduate, tormenting his former club with his electric pace and jinking runs. At the other, he was the creative force from set-pieces.
Tuchel’s team almost went ahead from a corner, an outswinger from James, which tempted robert
Sanchez from his line. the Brighton goalkeeper could only clear as far as Mason Mount, who turned the ball back into the crowd and Cesar Azpilicueta prodded it towards goal. it took a deflection on the way and rolled against a post.
James collected the loose ball out wide and rudiger headed wide from another of his fine crosses.
Sanchez foiled Mount at the near post before James limped off in pain, midway through the first half, following a challenge by Yves Bissouma. the England international winced as he held his left knee and had to be helped down the tunnel by two medics.
Alonso came on to replace him and, within seconds, Chelsea went ahead. Again, the danger came from a corner, this time delivered by Mount. Lukaku shrugged off marker neal Maupay and headed in at the near post. Maupay went down and rolled around, claiming a foul. he was simply outmuscled as the Belgium striker burst clear of his attempts to hold him back.
Lukaku performed as if making up for lost time. After having such an impact as a half-time substitute at Aston Villa on Boxing Day, his reward was a first Premier League start since mid-october.
His season was interrupted by an ankle injury and Covid delayed his comeback, but tuchel has been strangely reluctant to throw him back in, claiming Chelsea were playing with more intensity without him.
Once behind, Brighton came to life, forced the home team back and began to test Mendy. Bissouma registered the first attempt on target. it was straight at the keeper from the edge of the area and saved comfortably.
Mendy had to work harder to keep out an effort from Adam Lallana, diving to his right. Lamptey and Alexis Mac Allister both fired over before the interval. Chelsea were forced to dig in to defend, and rudiger was shown a yellow card for jumping into a tackle on Lamptey. Fortunately for rudiger, he got some of the ball. Brighton dominated the passage of play going into half-time and were the better team after the restart, when Chelsea returned without Christensen, who required treatment during the first half and was replaced by Chalobah.
Jakub Moder was close to equalising with a delicate volley, glanced on to the top of the bar, from a pass by Lallana. Mendy beat away a swerving free-kick from Mac Allister and pushed over another fierce drive from Bissouma.
Maupay flashed a crisp shot wide and saw another chance blocked by rudiger. Lallana whipped another wonderful chance over.
in the first hour, the visitors had recorded 13 attempts at goal. More than twice as many as Chelsea. Still they trailed, old habits in front of goal haunting them, and they were increasingly vulnerable to the counter-attack.
Callum hudson-odoi ought to have stretched the lead, but he tried to cut a pass square to Mount and Joel Veltman intercepted.
Chelsea regained some control after Kante’s entry, but Welbeck
pounced in stoppage time for his second goal of the season.
‘I think the performance the whole game was good,’ Welbeck said. ‘We kept the ball well. It was great to come away with a draw. I think we could have produced a bit more in the first half, but in the second half we kept plugging away and we got a goal.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve been out on the pitch and it was great to score as well.’
Those in the away end celebrated long and hard. Perhaps it was worth the wait.