Chelsea 1 Brighton and Hove Albion 3
The Blues saw red for the second Premier League match on the trot and again it came at the price of all three points.
Two goals from Danny Welbeck and one from Maxim De Cuyper earned Brighton and Hove Albion a win at Stamford Bridge after Chelsea had taken the lead through Enzo Fernandez after 24 minutes.
The game turned when Trevoh Chalobah was sent off early in the second half for tripping Diego Gomez as he surged towards the home side’s goal.
It took a while, but Albion drew level on 77 minutes when Yankuba Minteh teed up Welbeck for the first of his two goals.
Two minutes into stoppage time, Mats Wieffer nodded the ball to De Cuyper who headed the Seagulls in front.
And with 100 minutes the clock, Brajan Gruda set up Welbeck for his second and Albion’s third, cementing the victory.
Welbeck was then booked for as he celebrated by pulling off his shirt – one of five yellow cards for the Albion. Joel Veltman, Wieffer, skipper Lewis Dunk and Jan Paul van Hecke also had their names taken.
Four Chelsea players were booked – Reece James, Benoit Badiashile, Marc Cucurella and, a week after his red card against Manchester United, goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
Early on, Fernandez almost opened the scoring from a direct free kick but an alert Bart Verbruggen pushed the ball wide. Reece James also tested Verbruggen before the breakthrough.
It came when Moises Caicedo picked out James with a deft low forward pass. James sent a cross into the box which deflected and looped across the face of the goal.
Fernandez raced in, leaving the Albion defence trailing in his wake, and had enough time and space to plant the ball home with his head.
The hosts dominated the first half as Brighton struggled even to threaten the Chelsea goal but the tables turned after Chalobah was dismissed after 53 minutes.
Kaoru Mitoma had dispossessed Andrey Santos and played the ball into the path of the advancing Gomez who was felled by Chalobah.
Initially, he looked to have gotten away with it but referee Simon Hooper was alerted by the video assistant referee (VAR) and, after checking the pitch-side monitor, the England defender had to go.
Chelsea held out until the 77th minute before Minteh surged forward and played the ball in from the left. Welbeck, on as a sub, was positioned perfectly to power the ball home with his head.
Eleven minutes of stoppage time had barely started when Albion won a corner. The played it short and the move ended with Ayari crossing in and finding Wieffer at the far post. He nodded the ball to De Cuyper who rose to the occasion with a header from close range.
Sanchez played a quick ball out to James on the edge of the box and Minteh put him under pressure. The Chelsea captain passed it sideways to 19-year-old Josh Acheampong but, with Minteh on the case, the teenager played a poor forward pass.
Gruda intercepted it and stroked it into the path of Welbeck who made no mistake from close range.
Chelsea’s feeder team bites back.