Chelsea survived a spirited second-half comeback from Brighton to secure a 4-3 victory at Stamford Bridge and maintain their perfect start to the Premier League season.
The hosts raced into a three-goal lead through Romeo Lavia, Pedro Neto and Joao Pedro before Brighton responded with two goals from Malick Yalcouye and Pascal Gross.
Cole Palmer restored Chelsea’s two-goal cushion in the 74th minute, but Gross struck again deep into stoppage time to set up a tense finish. Brighton, however, could not find the equaliser as Chelsea held on for their second win of the campaign.
Chelsea opened the scoring after only four minutes when Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen failed to deal with a corner. Mats Wieffer had blocked Joao Pedro’s header on the goal line, but the loose ball fell to Lavia, who tapped into an empty net for his first Chelsea goal.
The home side doubled their advantage 10 minutes later. Morgan Rogers beat Luka Vuskovic on the left before delivering a cross that Neto met ahead of Ferdi Kadioglu to make it 2-0.
Chelsea added a third in the 32nd minute when Jorrel Hato raced past Wieffer and picked out Joao Pedro, who calmly finished against his former club.
Brighton pulled one back before the interval after Chelsea debutant Emiliano Martinez denied Charalampos Kostoulas, only for Yalcouye to react quickest to the rebound and volley home.
The visitors continued to apply pressure after the restart and reduced the deficit further in the 63rd minute. Yalcouye found Gross, whose shot took a heavy deflection off Joao Pedro before beating Martinez.
Palmer restored Chelsea’s two-goal lead 11 minutes later with a superb individual effort, curling the ball beyond Verbruggen from outside the penalty area.
Brighton refused to surrender and scored again with almost the final action of the match when Gross headed past Martinez. Fabian Hurzeler’s team could not complete the comeback, however, as Chelsea secured all three points.
Martinez was handed his Chelsea debut less than four hours after the club confirmed his £7.5 million transfer. The Argentine goalkeeper, who turns 34 next week, had fallen out of favour at Aston Villa after a proposed move to Juventus collapsed and Zion Suzuki emerged as Unai Emery’s preferred option.
The former Villa goalkeeper received a warm reception from the Stamford Bridge crowd and produced several important saves. He denied Kostoulas before Brighton’s first goal and was left with little chance for the second after the deflection off Joao Pedro.
Martinez also made a sharp diving stop from Diego Gomez shortly before Brighton’s second goal, while further saves from Olivier Boscagli and others prevented the visitors from completing the turnaround.
Brighton had begun the season with a 4-0 victory over Aston Villa, but their defence struggled to cope with Chelsea’s attacking movement during the opening half. Yalcouye was among their most influential players, contributing to both of Brighton’s first two goals.
Chelsea’s victory keeps Alonso’s side perfect at the start of the campaign, while Brighton will take confidence from their strong second-half response. Chelsea’s next league fixture is against champions Arsenal on Sunday, September 6.
