EPL: Chelsea survive Brighton scare in seven-goal thriller

Chelsea withstood a determined Brighton comeback to secure an entertaining 4-3 win, maintaining their perfect start under manager Xabi Alonso.

The Blues stormed into a three-goal advantage during a blistering first half at Stamford Bridge, with Romeo Lavia, Pedro Neto and former Brighton forward Joao Pedro all finding the net. However, the visitors refused to give up and mounted a strong response.

Malick Yalcoule fired in before half-time to offer Brighton hope, before they cut the gap to a single goal when a Pascal Gross effort took a deflection off Joao Pedro and beat Emiliano Martinez, who was making his debut after his £7.5m move from Aston Villa.

Brighton continued to threaten, with Diego Gomez coming close and Martinez producing several impressive saves. However, Cole Palmer brilliantly picked out the bottom corner to score Chelsea’s fourth, ensuring that Gross’ stoppage-time header came too late to change the outcome.

Chelsea were again without Enzo Fernandez, who was omitted from the squad for a second straight Premier League match amid interest from Manchester City. Meanwhile, Moises Caicedo was forced off through injury shortly after coming on for his first appearance of the campaign.

The result extends Chelsea’s encouraging beginning under Alonso. Although the manager still has defensive concerns to resolve, following their 3-2 victory over Fulham in the opening game, Chelsea’s revamped attack once again proved decisive.