Chelsea continue perfect start to Alonso era by winning seven-goal thriller with Brighton

[p]Having missed his former side [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/aston-villa/W00wmLO0/"]Aston Villa[/a]’s 4-0 humbling at the hands of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/brighton/2XrRecc3/"]Brighton[/a] last time out, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/chelsea/4fGZN2oK/"]Chelsea[/a] debutant [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/martinez-emiliano/ziCcc5jM/"]Emiliano Martínez[/a] made his first start of the PL season here against the same opponents.[/p][p][b]And after just four minutes, he was celebrating his new club taking the lead when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/wieffer-mats/0vAgcUq8/"]Mats Wieffer[/a] blocked [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/joao-pedro/CAmJERl2/"]Joao Pedro[/a]’s goalbound header, only to get caught in a mix-up with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/verbruggen-bart/6PChQYLj/"]Bart Verbruggen[/a], allowing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lavia-romeo/UepSPHBj/"]Romeo Lavia[/a] to turn home.[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rogers-morgan/lp4jm80n/"]Morgan Rogers[/a] had assisted more career goals against the Seagulls than any other side, and he added a fifth when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/neto-pedro/lxtnUkIP/"]Pedro Neto[/a] darted into the box to poke his cutback past Verbruggen 10 minutes later.[/b][/p][p]Brighton were leaking chances, and they were fortunate not to fall further behind as Pedro somehow side-footed wide after excellent wing play from Neto.[/p][p][b]Aside from a relatively simple catch from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/yalcouye-malick/jq2xC9XI/"]Malick Yalcouye[/a]’s volley on the stretch, Martinez had been virtually untroubled by the time Chelsea added a third with 32 minutes on the clock. This time, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hato-jorrel/nFLCJBzK/"]Jorrel Hato[/a] was at the heart of the attack, marauding forward before teeing up Pedro for his second goal of the campaign.[/b][/p][p][b]But Martinez was soon picking the ball out of the net after Yalcouye thrashed a volley in off the post to extend Chelsea’s PL run to 18 games without a clean sheet.[/b][/p][image alt="Match momentum" id="dbab963b-bc02-4ff8-a90f-d244599504b0" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="107cf2e5-c223-4418-b10d-e61fa920d67f" original-width="3840" original-height="2160" /][p]That goal gave the visitors a lifeline, and they should have reduced the arrears further after the break when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gomez-diego/KrSC9Fhb/"]Diego Gomez[/a] sent a bullet header narrowly wide from a set-piece delivery.[/p][p]At the other end, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/palmer-cole/h8agbDt7/"]Cole Palmer[/a] failed to turn in a whipped ball from point-blank range, which came back to bite his side with just over an hour played.[/p][p][b]A rifled effort from Gomez forced Martínez into a smart stop, yet there was nothing he could do as the resulting corner led to a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gross-pascal/trpxfbO3/"]Pascal Gross[/a] square ball being inadvertently diverted in by Pedro.[/b][/p][p][b]However, a triple change from Alonso regained control of the contest, and Palmer bent a delicate effort beyond Verbruggen’s reach to restore their two-goal advantage.[/b][/p][embed guid="53c28b6a-6a51-4660-986b-053c05c21d87" url="https://x.com/ChelseaFC/status/2094074448383021349" social-type="twitter" /][p]That was until Gross cleverly nodded home in stoppage time, but it was too late to affect the result.[/p][p]Victory marks Chelsea's second home win to open a PL season in the last eight years (D4, L2), laying down a marker for the rest of the campaign, having netted a league-high seven goals en route to maximum points thus far.[/p][p]Meanwhile, for Brighton, it’s back down to earth after their fast start last week.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/yalcouye-malick/jq2xC9XI/"]Malick Yalcouye[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/brighton/2XrRecc3/"]Brighton[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/brighton-2XrRecc3/chelsea-4fGZN2oK/?mid=849SZXGE"]Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore[/a][/b][/p]