Yankuba Minteh scores twice as Chelsea suffer deja-vu defeat at Brighton

Chelsea suffered a crippling sense of deja vu after Kaoru Mitoma’s eye-catching opener and Yankuba Minteh’s double earned Brighton a thumping 3-0 Premier League win at the Amex Stadium.

Six days on from slipping to an FA Cup fourth-round exit in Sussex, Enzo Maresca’s Blues were ripped apart as their pursuit of Champions League qualification was damaged by a repeat result.

Mitoma, who scored the winner in Saturday’s 2-1 triumph, produced a sensational first touch en route to rifling Albion into a 27th-minute lead before fellow winger Minteh struck either side of the break.

A miserable south-coast outing for fourth-placed Chelsea was compounded by an early injury for Noni Madueke and they have now taken just nine points from their last nine fixtures after failing to register an attempt on target.

Rampant Brighton, who were hammered 7-0 at Nottingham Forest just under a fortnight ago, climb to eighth in the table thanks to a first league success at home since early November.

Chelsea head coach Maresca claimed the chance to concentrate on top-flight commitments – and the Conference League – was a positive consequence of his side’s premature cup exit.

As the Blues chase a return to European football’s top club competition, the Italian made four changes to the team he selected six days earlier, while Adam Webster replaced injured captain Lewis Dunk for Albion.

Winger Madueke was among the recalled players but, with England boss Thomas Tuchel watching from the stands, he limped off inside 21 minutes to be replaced by Jadon Sancho after setting up a good chance for Cole Palmer.

Palmer’s poor slice wide was the best opportunity of a cagey opening before Mitoma lit up a bitterly cold Valentine’s Day encounter with a moment of magic.

Following a searching pass from goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, the Japan winger sublimely plucked the ball out of the air before beating Trevoh Chalobah and rifling into the bottom right corner from inside the D.

Chelsea briefly thought they had levelled 10 minutes short of half-time when captain Enzo Fernandez headed home Malo Gusto’s cross, only to be penalised for a push on Joel Veltman.

The visitors’ frustration was heightened three minutes later following some more questionable defending.

Chalobah conceded possession deep inside his own half and, after the legs of Filip Jorgensen prevented the sliding Levi Colwill turning Georginio Rutter’s cross into his own net, Danny Welbeck swiftly worked the loose ball to Minteh, who took a touch past Marc Cucurella before burying a low finish.

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler had urged home supporters to recreate the raucous atmosphere of last weekend when there were recurrent jeers for former Seagulls players Robert Sanchez, Cucurella and Moises Caicedo.

Chants of “can we play you every week?” followed the second goal, while left-back Cucurella bore the brunt of the hostility after Sanchez was dropped in favour of first-choice keeper Jorgensen.

Caicedo provoked anger from the terraces and was booked for a scything challenge on Mitoma in the closing stages of a first half in which Chelsea dominated possession but failed to trouble Verbruggen.

Amid the ongoing injury absence of first-choice striker Nicolas Jackson and following the early loss of Madueke, Maresca initially opted against changes as he sent out his players early for the second period.

Chelsea continued to spend plenty of time in opposition territory.

Yet their lack of threat also persisted and Albion killed off the contest in the 63rd minute.

With the visitors appealing in vain for a foul on Colwill in the build-up, Minteh exchanged passes with Welbeck before cutting in from the right and finishing via a slight deflection off Chalobah.

Maresca responded with a triple alteration but the damage had already been done.

Jorgensen prevented a worse scoreline by pushing a Veltman effort on to the right post as Brighton, who did require Verbruggen to prevent Adam Webster scoring a late own goal, cruised to a resounding victory.