Chelsea maintained their perfect start to the new Premier League season with a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Brighton in an entertaining encounter at Stamford Bridge.
Romeo Lavia scored his first goal for Chelsea to hand the Blues a dream start in Xabi Alonso’s first home league game in charge.
Brighton were punished for a costly error inside four minutes. Mats Wieffer did well to block Joao Pedro’s header from a corner on the goal line, but goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen fumbled the ball, allowing Lavia to tap home.
Chelsea doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Morgan Rogers beat Brighton’s record signing, Luka Vuskovic, on the left before delivering a cross that Pedro Neto met ahead of Ferdi Kadioglu to make it 2-0.
The Blues struck again in the 32nd minute. Left wing-back Jorrel Hato beat Wieffer for pace before finding Joao Pedro, who made it 3-0 against his former club.
Brighton, however, responded strongly and gave themselves a glimmer of hope before half-time.
Chelsea debutant Emi Martinez came off his line to deny Charalampos Kostoulas, but Malick Yalcouye reacted quickest to the loose ball and volleyed home.
The visitors started the second half brightly and reduced the deficit further in the 63rd minute when Yalcouye found Pascal Gross, whose effort took a heavy deflection off Joao Pedro before beating Martinez.
Cole Palmer then eased Chelsea’s nerves with a superb individual effort in the 74th minute, curling the ball beyond Verbruggen from outside the box to restore the hosts’ two-goal advantage.
Brighton scored a third virtually with the final action of the game, as Gross headed past Martinez, but Fabian Hurzeler’s side could not complete a remarkable comeback.
Chelsea held on to secure all three points and preserve their perfect start to the campaign.
