The match between Chelsea and Brighton in round 3 of the English League Cup ended with the home team’s minimal victory after Nicolas Jackson’s only goal.
Entering the match in round 3 of the English League Cup, Chelsea welcomed the return of the most expensive contract in history, Moises Caicedo. In addition, young midfielder Cole Palmer also made his first official appearance for Chelsea after having played from the bench in 3 consecutive Premier League matches.
On Brighton’s side, coach Roberto De Zerbi continued his strategy of rotating the squad, retaining only 3 players who appeared in the starting lineup in the 3-1 victory over Bournemouth last weekend, including goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen and a defender. Pervis Estupinan and midfielder Facundo Buonanotte. The fact that the two teams had certain roster disturbances and only participated in less prestigious arenas made the professional quality of the match not high.
Coach Mauricio Pochettino before the match expressed concern about his students’ confidence and the developments on the field completely accurately reflected the Argentine teacher’s concerns.
At home, Stamford Bridge saw the first 45 minutes of Chelsea being completely outmatched, when they only had 39% ball control. Not only that, the lack of confidence is also shown in the team’s poor possession and passing situations, especially in defense. Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, who was brought in from Brighton in the summer, had 3 bad passing situations right in front of the penalty area and if Joao Pedro or Ansu Fati took advantage of it successfully, Chelsea would have to concede at least 2 goals.
If the defense plays unsafely, the offense will continue to be ungainly. Nicolas Jackson, Mykhailo Mudryk, Ian Maatsen, and Palmer each had their own beat, kicking hard, making Chelsea’s attacks seem to run into a wall. The name that left the most impression was Caicedo, who played very prominently, contested fiercely, and had several situations in which he passed the ball to his teammates.
Entering the second half, things improved a bit for Chelsea, as the home team’s forward passes brought more danger, making it difficult for the away team’s defense to defend against situations. In the 51st minute, Chelsea’s attacking efforts were rewarded with Jackson’s opening goal. This is a rare phase where the players on the Blues’ attack found each other. Caicedo opened the scoring with a pass to Maatsen before the ball reached Palmer’s feet, allowing the former Man City player to slot in a convenient slot for Jackson to finish neatly.
Despite being conceded, Brighton showed no signs of accelerating as usual in search of an equalizer. Even the away team did not control the ball as much as in the first 45 minutes and of course with this way of playing, Brighton did not create too many stops for the home team. In the end, the 1-0 score remained until the end of the match, Chelsea entered the fourth round of the League Cup, and had their first victory after 3 consecutive matches of draws and losses.
Squad:
Chelsea: Sanchez; Cucurella, Disasi, Colwill, Chilwell; Fallen, Ugochukwu; Palmer, Maatsen, Mud; Jackson
Brighton: Business; Stupid, Igor, Van Heck, Lamptey; Baleba, Dahoud; Buonanotte, Mitoma, Ansu Fati; Peter