Soccer Football - Premier League - Brighton & Hove Albion v Chelsea - The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, Britain - February 14, 2025 Brighton & Hove Albion's Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma, Georginio Rutter and Carlos Baleba celebrate after the match Action Images via Reuters/Paul Childs
BRIGHTON, England -A brilliant goal by Brighton & Hove Albion's Kaoru Mitoma and a Yankuba Minteh double gave the Seagulls a 3-0 Premier League home win over Chelsea on Friday, a week after they knocked their London visitors out of the FA Cup.
Missing strikers Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu through injury, Chelsea dominated possession but did not manage a single shot on target as they slumped to a defeat that leaves them fourth in the table on 43 points ahead of the weekend's fixtures. Brighton moved up to eighth on 37 points.
Japanese winger Mitoma broke the deadlock with a moment of magic midway through the first half, bringing down a long ball from keeper Bart Verbruggen with an exquisite first touch before cutting inside Trevoh Chalobah and curling the ball in at the far post.
The closest Chelsea came to scoring was when captain Enzo Fernandez headed home in the 35th minute, but he was penalised for a push on Brighton defender Joel Veltman and the goal was chalked off.
Three minutes later his side were two behind as Chelsea failed to clear their lines and Danny Welbeck poked the ball into the path of Minteh, who expertly evaded a tackle by ex-Brighton fullback Marc Cucurella before drilling it into the net.
With Chelsea barely threatening, Minteh added his second in the 63rd minute, delighting the fans by cutting inside Cucurella to score at the near post.
Mitoma could have had a second in the 73rd minute as Brighton made a breakaway, but he fired his shot straight at the keeper and it was easily saved.
Joel Veltman hit the post form a Yasin Ayari pass in the 85th minute.
The win was Brighton's first at home in the Premier League since beating Manchester City 2-1 on November 9, and Brighton striker Welbeck praised Mitoma's performance as his goal set them on the road to victory.
"It was slow-motion for me. He has got an amazing first touch, he has got a tremendous ability to bring it down and kill the ball instantly. Impeccable first touch, it is incredible. What a goal," he told Sky Sports.
After conceding seven goals in their last Premier League outing against Nottingham Forest, keeper Verbruggen was delighted with both the clean sheet and the assist for Mitoma's goal.
"We train it and I saw the space in behind. It was an unbelievable touch and a very good finish ... we needed to show a reaction and the boys did that," he said.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
