Chelsea’s poor run continued at the Amex Stadium as their Champions League hopes suffered another setback with a 3-0 drubbing by Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Blues made the trip to the south coast having seen their Premier League winless run reach four, with each defeat coming without a goal scored.
And that poor performance extended to five as Brighton leapfrogged them to sixth in the table with a deserved victory. It is the first time since 1912 that Chelsea have lost five league games in a row without scoring a goal.
Ferdi Kadioglu opened the scoring in the third minute and, despite failing to capitalize on their first-half dominance, the Seagulls completed a double over Chelsea as Jack Hinshelwood doubled the advantage in the 56th minute.
Chelsea never looked like coming back and Danny Welbeck added a late gloss to the scoreline as he capped Brighton’s best night in style as they moved two points clear of the Blues.
Liam Rosenior’s relegated side remain seven points behind fifth-placed Liverpool in the race for a top-five spot that could guarantee a place in the Champions League.
Liverpool can extend that gap to 10 by beating Crystal Palace on Saturday, meaning Chelsea will likely be left hoping Aston Villa can win the Europa League and turn sixth into a Champions League spot. After a game where they didn’t take part in the goal and Brighton in this kind of form, even a top six finish looks like a favorite for Chelsea at the moment.
Chelsea were taken apart by a brilliant Brighton
Brighton started well and, after Kaoru Mitoma saw a long-range half-volley well saved by Robert Sanchez, the hosts opened the scoring from a resulting corner.
A delivery at the near post was headed in by Jorrel Hato, but it was Kadioglu, whose powerful drive left Sanchez with no chance.
Sanchez should have pulled off another good save to head past Jan Paul van Hecke, but the former Brighton keeper was almost red-handed as he sent the ball straight at Carlos Baleba, with Trevoh Chalobah’s goal-line intervention preventing Hinshelwood from making it 2-0.
Chelsea improved somewhat to start the second half, but a side missing Joao Pedro, Cole Palmer and Estevao never really threatened to find a way back into the competition.
And they were caught on the counter following one of their own going forward at times, with Brighton quickly breaking after handball claims against Yankuba Minteh were waved.
Brilliant work from Georginio Rutter gave Brighton a double, and he set up Hinshelwood to double the lead with a combined finish.
Kadioglu was then twice denied by the Sanchez duo before Alejandro Garnacho and Marc Guiu saw chances for Chelsea, his miserable night ended when Welbeck fired past Maxim De Cuyper.
The FA Cup looks like Chelsea’s chance to salvage something positive from a slumping campaign. But amid their poor form, victory over Leeds United in Sunday’s semi-final is far from guaranteed.
