Key stats
- Chelsea's Xabi Alonso is only the fourth manager to see his side score 7+ goals in his first two Premier League games, after Bobby Robson (eight in September 1999), Michael Laudrup (eight in August 2012), and Marcelo Bielsa (seven in Sep 2020).
- Joao Pedro today was the sixth player (and first for Chelsea) to score a goal, assist a goal, and score an own goal in the same Premier League game, and the first since Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min against Manchester City in December 2023.
- Chelsea are only the second side ever to score in the opening four minutes of both of their first two Premier League games of a season, after Bolton in 2002/03.
Highlights
Analysis
Match report
Having missed his former side Aston Villa’s 4-0 humbling at the hands of Brighton last time out, Chelsea debutant Emiliano Martínez made his first start of the PL season here against the same opponents.
And after just four minutes, he was celebrating his new club taking the lead when Mats Wieffer blocked João Pedro’s goalbound header, only to get caught in a mix-up with Bart Verbruggen, allowing Roméo Lavia to turn home.
Morgan Rogers had assisted more career goals against the Seagulls than any other side, and he added a fifth when Pedro Neto darted into the box to poke his cutback past Verbruggen 10 minutes later.
Brighton were leaking chances, and they were fortunate not to fall further behind as Pedro somehow side-footed wide after excellent wing play from Neto.
Aside from a relatively simple catch from Malick Yalcouyé’s volley on the stretch, Martínez had been virtually untroubled by the time Chelsea added a third with 32 minutes on the clock.
This time, Jorrel Hato was at the heart of the attack, marauding forward before teeing up Pedro for his second goal of the campaign.
But Martínez was soon picking the ball out of the net after Yalcouyé thrashed a volley in off the post to extend Chelsea’s PL run to 18 games without a clean sheet.
That goal gave the visitors a lifeline, and they should have reduced the arrears further after the break when Diego Gómez sent a bullet header narrowly wide from a set-piece delivery.
At the other end, Cole Palmer failed to turn in a whipped ball from point-blank range, which came back to bite his side with just over an hour played.
A rifled effort from Gómez forced Martínez into a smart stop, yet there was nothing he could do as the resulting corner led to a Pascal Groß square ball being inadvertently diverted in by Pedro.
However, a triple change from Alonso regained control of the contest, and Palmer bent a delicate effort beyond Verbruggen’s reach to restore their two-goal advantage.
That was until Groß cleverly nodded home in stoppage time, but it was too late to affect the result.
Victory marks Chelsea's second home win to open a PL season in the last eight years (D4, L2), laying down a marker for the rest of the campaign, having netted a league-high seven goals en route to maximum points thus far.
Meanwhile, for Brighton, it’s back down to earth after their fast start last week.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Malick Yalcouyé (Brighton & Hove Albion)