EPL
Only one issue mattered to a Brighton & Hove Albion supporter at a fans’ forum at the Amex Stadium in April.
He said to head coach Roberto De Zerbi: “Can we please beat Chelsea?” The plea was greeted with laughter and applause by the audience, two days after a 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth ended hopes of De Zerbi’s side qualifying for Europe.
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The fan added: “Like how we made it hostile here for Crystal Palace (in a 4-1 home win in February). Can we make it hostile somehow for Chelsea as well, get more police in, send Todd Boehly the bill, because when we had the Carabao Cup (tie at Stamford Bridge) they put the tickets (prices) up for us.”
It was a snapshot of how Chelsea — apart from the enduring rivalry with Palace — have become the team Brighton fans most want to beat. The fan did not get the result he wanted, but there was a hostile undercurrent to Chelsea’s 2-1 victory at the Amex on Wednesday evening.
Former Brighton pair Moises Caicedo and Marc Cucurella, popular with fans when they played for the club, were booed every time they touched the ball. The night’s loudest cheer came when Caicedo was cautioned in the 79th minute for fouling Julio Enciso.
Cucurella, the last player to leave the pitch with Chelsea team-mate Thiago Silva, was the target of foul-mouthed abuse from home sections of the crowd during the match and after the final whistle.
It has not always been like this. In fact, until the last two seasons, it had never been like this. Before the 2017-18 season, Brighton’s first in the Premier League, the sides had not faced each other for nearly 30 years.
Brighton were scratching around in the lower divisions for part of that period, homeless and fighting for a new stadium. Chelsea? They were winning trophies. The Champions League in 2012 (they won it again in 2021), the Premier League five times, the FA Cup six times (they won that again too in 2018), UEFA’s now-defunct Cup Winners’ Cup (1998), the Europa League in 2013 (and again in 2019) and the League Cup four times.
The clubs were poles apart, but Brighton have risen to a point where the fans regard Chelsea bitterly as enemies because of how players, coaching staff and recruitment staff have been relentlessly removed from the Amex to Stamford Bridge — 11 in total in 21 months.
It began with the Spanish left-back Cucurella in August 2022. The head coach Graham Potter headed to west London the following month with five of his backroom team. In November of that year, the head of recruitment Paul Winstanley moved to Chelsea as co-sporting director.
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Then midfielder Caicedo and goalkeeper Robert Sanchez were sold to Chelsea in last summer’s transfer window, Caicedo for a British record transfer fee of £115million ($146m). Sam Jewell, Winstanley’s successor as head of recruitment, recently started work as Chelsea’s director of global recruitment following a spell on gardening leave since resigning from Brighton in February.
The deals have been good for Brighton’s bank balance — more than £225million in total — but not so good for stability (although effective succession planning has kept the club upwardly mobile). Fans now look upon Chelsea with contempt, revelling in their failures.
The atmosphere was ferocious for Potter’s swift return to the Amex in October 2022. Home supporters derived extra satisfaction from a 4-1 defeat for Chelsea, which gave De Zerbi his first win as Potter’s successor after six matches.
De Zerbi still remembers it well, telling his staff that “we have to start winning otherwise they will sack us and we will be back in Italy” and how the atmosphere meant that “in the first 10 minutes of the game, our players were fierce”.
Wednesday night’s encounter was the first visit by Chelsea since then. The teams had clashed three times at Stamford Bridge over the intervening 19 months, sharing victories either side of Brighton’s 1-0 defeat in the Carabao Cup in September.
Chelsea went on to lose the final against Liverpool at Wembley 1-0 in extra time. Brighton owner-chairman Tony Bloom and chief executive Paul Barber wore red ties for the occasion, although Barber says relationships between the respective hierarchies remain cordial.
The latest meeting was more meaningful for Chelsea. They arrived in seventh place in the table, vying with Newcastle United and Manchester United for Europa League or Conference League qualification after one defeat in 13 league games under Mauricio Pochettino, who took over in July. Brighton’s incentive was modest by comparison, but three points would essentially wrap up a third successive top-10 finish.
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De Zerbi does not regard the clubs as rivals on the pitch. “We are not at the same level as Chelsea,” he said. “If we lose 11 players and coaches to Chelsea, we cannot be a rival because they fight for a different target. If they are bringing our players it is because Tony Bloom is working very well and we are working very well on the pitch. Moises Caicedo, Levi Colwill on loan, the last two players that were at Brighton and then Chelsea are two top players.”
Brighton fans are less charitable. “Marc Cucurella, you know what you are,” they chanted after a ball-winning tackle by Facundo Buonanotte inside his own box on Cucurella ended with referee Michael Salisbury overturning his initial decision to award Chelsea an early penalty.
Caicedo, sporting white hair to match his white boots, was an easy target. So, too, was Cucurella, with his long locks and fluorescent orange footwear. Far from cowering, he seemed to relish the role of villain, providing the cross for Cole Palmer to expertly head Chelsea into the lead in the first half.
Brighton finished sixth last season to qualify for the Europa League, six places and 18 points above Chelsea. The ball is on the other foot this time. It was the away fans singing, “We’re all going on a European tour,” after substitute Christopher Nkunku doubled their lead in the second half.
Danny Welbeck’s 98th-minute reply, with Chelsea reduced to 10 men by Reece James petulantly kicking out at Joao Pedro after he had been fouled by the Brazilian, came too late to impact the outcome.
Brighton, ravaged by injuries throughout the season, must beat Welbeck’s former club Manchester United at the Amex on Sunday to guarantee finishing 10th after a slump in results and a struggle for goals in the calendar year.
As for the fans, they will relish renewing the fresh rivalry with Chelsea next season.
(Top photo: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
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Andy Naylor worked for 32.5 years on the sports desk of The Argus, Brighton’s daily newspaper. For the last 25 of those years he was chief sports reporter, primarily responsible for coverage of Brighton and Hove Albion FC. Follow Andy on Twitter @AndyNaylorBHAFC
