Chelsea misfired on the attacking front on Tuesday evening at Stamford Bridge as Thomas Tuchel’s top-four challengers were held to a 0-0 affair by Brighton who put up an inspired showing in west London.
The Blues, however, ended up in the top four owing to their superior goal difference over West Ham United as both capital outfits gear up to face each other this coming weekend.
MATCH PROCEEDINGS
Tuchel’s men were unable to get the better of a resilient Brighton defence early on and had to wait until the tenth minute to register their first effort on goal which came through Kai Havertz.
The German forward came close to troubling the visitors once again in opening 25 minutes of the game with a first-time strike which was denied well by Robert Sanchez.
Brighton had their effort on goal through Yves Bissouma’s strike which looked dangerous enough but landed up in the roof of the net just prior to the half-time break which both sides entered hoping to break the duck.
The closing 45 minutes were no different in what followed was a well-worked defensive display from Graham Potter’s men as the Blues’ repeated attacking endeavours failed to flourish.
Despite Tuchel bringing on the likes of Timo Werner and Olivier Giroud off the bench to help his side the goal that was very much wanted by Chelsea to secure all three points and move up the Premier League standings.
Adam Lallana looked to cause trouble on the defensive end of the pitch for the Blues as he forced a good save out of Kepa in the Chelsea goalposts.
The visitors were reduced to ten men in the dying moments of the game when Ben White was shown the marching orders but Tuchel’s side were unable to make the most of their one-man advantage and the game soon finished in a goalless stalemate.
