Chelsea takes full advantage of Newcastle United’s loss of points
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 10:58 PM
Chelsea won the penultimate round in the Premier League on Wednesday. Mauricio Pochettino’s team defeated Brighton & Hove Albion 1-2 thanks to goals from Cole Palmer and Christopher Nkunku. Reece James saw red with his first starting spot since December. Chelsea now occupies sixth place due to Newcastle United’s defeat at Manchester United (3-2).
At Brighton, Bart Verbruggen was in charge, while Joël Veltman and Jan Paul van Hecke were missing due to various injuries. On the Chelsea side, there was a starting place for former PSV player Noni Madueke.
Brighton has already finished this season and only needs to fulfill its sporting duties at the end of the competition. Chelsea, on the other hand, is still competing for the last European ticket. Sixth place entitles you to qualification for the Conference League.
It was the Blues who immediately tightened the thumbscrews from the first whistle. Pochettino’s team made a mature impression and gave away virtually nothing until James’ red card.
After fifteen minutes of play, the Londoners were screaming for a penalty when Marc Cucurella went to the ground after a duel with Facundo Buonanotte. The referee also pointed to the spot, but reversed his decision after VAR intervention.
Not much later, Verbruggen had to take action after a deflected shot from Malo Gusto. It turned out to be only a postponement for Brighton, as the opening goal was scored after more than half an hour of play.
After preparatory work by Cucurella, Palmer beautifully headed into the far corner above the completely hopeless Verbruggen. Nicolas Jackson even seemed to double the score for Chelsea just before half time, but his goal was disallowed for offside.
After the break the game pattern hardly changed. Chelsea dominated and looked dangerous every now and then. However, it was Jackson who killed one promising attack after another. First he failed to send Nkunku to the goal alone, only to deliver another worthless pass to his French colleague not much later.
Did Brighton do nothing at all? Well, not much. The biggest chance came from Pascal Groß, who fell just short of finishing at the first post. Shortly afterwards, Nkunku ended the game on behalf of Chelsea. On a pass from Gusto, the midfielder and winger was able to round off: 0-2.
While there was no problem for the visitors in the remainder of the game, James completely unnecessarily crossed the line in the final phase. The captain, who was in the starting line-up for the first time since December, received a red card for a late-kicking move.
Brighton did come back to 1-2 in ten minutes of injury time through Danny Welbeck, who converted a cross from Joao Pedro into a goal, but it did not go further than that.
2024-05-15 20:58:00
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