Chelsea maintained their perfect start to the new Premier League season as they held on to defeat Brighton in an entertaining match at Stamford Bridge.
Romeo Lavia’s first goal in a Chelsea shirt handed the Blues a dream start in Xabi Alonso’s first home league game in charge.
Brighton were made to pay for a costly error inside four minutes as Mats Wieffer did well on the goalline to block Joao Pedro’s header from a corner but goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen then fumbled to allow an easy tap-in for Lavia.
Their lead was doubled 10 minutes later when Morgan Rogers got the better of Brighton’s record signing Luka Vuskovic on the left and crossed in for Pedro Neto to get in front of Ferdi Kadioglu and prod home.
The Seagulls were caught out again in the 32nd minute. This time left wing-back Jorrel Hato beat Wieffer for pace and found Joao Pedro to make it 3-0 against his former club.
But the visitors valiantly fought back to give themselves a glimmer of hope.
They pulled one back before the break as Chelsea debutant Emi Martinez came off his line to deny Charalampos Kostoulas and Malick Yalcouye volleyed in the loose ball.
Brighton started the second half strongly and reduced the deficit further in the 63rd minute when Yalcouye played in Pascal Gross, whose shot took a big deflection off Joao Pedro to beat Martinez.
Cole Palmer eased Chelsea’s nerves with a brilliant individual goal, curling past Verbruggen from outside the box to restore his side’s two-goal lead in the 74th minute.
Brighton found a third goal from virtually the final action of the game as Gross headed past Martinez, but Fabian Hurzeler’s side could not complete their comeback.
Alonso sprang a surprise by naming Martinez in the starting line-up – less than four hours after his £7.5m move was confirmed by the club.
It is a lifeline for Martinez, who turns 34 next week and fell out of favour at Aston Villa following a failed move to Juventus and the arrival of Japan’s Zion Suzuki as Unai Emery’s first-choice keeper.
The World Cup winner’s every catch was cheered on by the Stamford Bridge faithful during an assured display in goal, though he was unlucky to concede two of Brighton’s three goals, his save landing on the feet of Yalcouye for the opener and then getting undone by Joao Pedro’s own goal.
His best moment came just before Brighton’s second when he made a sharp diving save from Diego Gomez and he also denied Olivier Boscagli and Brighton a third, which would have levelled the score.
Chelsea have spent heavily across the pitch under their new ownership, but for many, a reliable goalkeeper was the missing piece.
Martinez’s performance on his debut suggests they might have a solution in the Argentine.
Meanwhile, there will now be question marks over Robert Sanchez’s future in west London.
The Spaniard, who had another error-strewn display during the 3-2 opening win at Fulham, was left out of the matchday squad completely as 21-year-old Belgian Mike Penders found a place on the bench as Alonso’s number two.
It might well be the case that Sanchez, who was a £25m signing from Brighton in 2023, now joins the long list of players Chelsea are looking to offload before the transfer window closes on Tuesday.
With an experienced shot-stopper in their ranks and the attack continuing to fire Alonso’s Chelsea could aim high this season, but their biggest test yet will come at champions Arsenal who they face next on Sunday, 6 September (16:30 BST).
Their emphatic 4-0 victory over Villa on the opening weekend set expectations high for another season under Hurzeler, who has steered Brighton to back-to-back eighth-placed finishes since taking charge in 2024.
But they were given a reality check by a Chelsea attack brimming with quality.
Brighton’s backline, including £46m summer signing Vuskovic, struggled to cope with the width provided by wing-backs Hato and Neto as well as the creativity of their front three of Palmer, Rogers and Joao Pedro in the first half.
Hurzeler will draw positives from a much-improved display in the second half as they went close to grabbing a point, despite the excursions of a midweek outing against Norway’s Tromso to book their Conference League place.
Yalcouye’s performance was a bright spot, with the 20-year-old Ivorian playing a key role in their first two goals.
He has spent the past two seasons on loan at Sturm Graz and Swansea City despite joining Brighton in 2024 but this display showed he can do a job at the Seagulls this year.
And for Hurzeler, the challenge will be to ensure the Brighton side that emerged after half-time is the norm rather than the one that was overrun in first half.
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