POTTS Graham jeered as
GRAHAM POTTER told
Brighton’s boo boys they were nothing without him after watching his old players demolish his new team.
Potter was showered by jeers and chants of “Potter what’s the score” and “Sacked in the morning” on his first return to the Amex after walking out to join Chelsea in September.
“I didn’t have any expectations (of the reaction). I had nothing to apologise for, I did a good job,” said Potter.
“I took over when they were fourth from bottom and probably the third worst team.
“A lot of money has been raised
through player sales. I hope for their sake the next manager does as good a job.
“As I said to the players, if you lose, you have to look at it and if you’ve made a mistake or got things wrong, you have to analyse it and do better.
“This scoreline makes it feel worse than it is.”
The energy towards Potter and Marc Cucurella, who also dumped the Seagulls for the Blues earlier this season, filtered through and pumped up the Brighton players. Thiago Silva twice nodded off his own line before Leandro Trossard rounded Kepa Arrizabalaga for his seventh goal of the season in the fifth minute.
Chelsea had never had two players score an own goal in a Premier League match before.
But Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah changed that by sticking their legs in at the wrong time.
Kai Havertz pulled one back immediately after the break with a fine header, but Brighton held on and added a fourth through Pascal Gross in stoppage time.
Potter’s first defeat coincided with his replacement Roberto De Zerbi’s maiden victory, and Albion’s first over the Blues since 1933. The Italian was visibly emotional during the celebrations and explained his demeanour on his tricky couple of months, which saw him leave Shakhtar Donetsk due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
De Zerbi said: “I am very happy for myself and my staff because we have been through eight really tough months. I had a great team that Putin decided to take away from me.
“I found another team and I am thankful to have found these players and this club.
“They had the confidence in me and it has been difficult to win people over without the results.”