Brighton & Hove Albion defeated Chelsea 3-0 at the Amex Stadium, extending the Blues' winless Premier League run to five matches without scoring. Ferdi Kadioglu opened the scoring in the third minute, followed by Jack Hinshelwood in the 56th and Danny Welbeck late on. The result saw Brighton leapfrog Chelsea into sixth place.
Chelsea's miserable form continued with a comprehensive 3-0 loss to Brighton, their fifth straight league defeat and the first time since 1912 they have lost five successive top-flight games without finding the net. The Blues managed no shots on target and sit seven points behind fifth-placed Liverpool, who can extend that gap to 10 points against Crystal Palace on Saturday. Liam Rosenior's side now relies on an FA Cup semi-final win over Leeds United or Aston Villa succeeding in the Europa League for Champions League hopes to linger. Brighton dominated early, with Kaoru Mitoma's volley tipped over by Robert Sanchez before Kadioglu's powerful drive from a corner made it 1-0 in the third minute. Sanchez made further saves, but Chelsea could not respond after the break. Hinshelwood doubled the lead on the counter in the 56th minute after Georginio Rutter's work, and Welbeck sealed the win with a finish from Maxim De Cuyper's pull-back. Chelsea, missing Cole Palmer and Estevao among others, showed brief improvement but failed to threaten. Brighton completed the double over their opponents this season.
