Palmer’s poor slice wide was the best opportunity of a cagey opening before Mitoma lit up a bitterly cold Valentine’s Day encounter with a moment of magic
Chelsea suffered a crippling sense of deja vu after Kaoru Mitoma’s eye-catching opener and Yankuba Minteh’s double earned Brighton a thumping 3-0 Premier League win at the Amex Stadium.
Six days on from slipping to an FA Cup fourth-round exit in Sussex, Enzo Maresca’s Blues were ripped apart as their pursuit of Champions League qualification was damaged by a repeat result.
Mitoma, who scored the winner in Saturday’s 2-1 triumph, produced a sensational first touch en route to rifling Albion into a 27th-minute lead before fellow winger Minteh struck either side of the break.
A miserable south-coast outing for fourth-placed Chelsea was compounded by an early injury for Noni Madueke and they have now taken just nine points from their last nine fixtures after failing to register an attempt on target.
Rampant Brighton, who were hammered 7-0 at Nottingham Forest just under a fortnight ago, climb to eighth in the table thanks to a first league success at home since early November.
Chelsea head coach Maresca claimed the chance to concentrate on top-flight commitments – and the Conference League – was a positive consequence of his side’s premature cup exit.
As the Blues chase a return to European football’s top club competition, the Italian made four changes to the team he selected six days earlier, while Adam Webster replaced injured captain Lewis Dunk for Albion.
Winger Madueke was among the recalled players but, with England boss Thomas Tuchel watching from the stands, he limped off inside 21 minutes to be replaced by Jadon Sancho after setting up a good chance for Cole Palmer.
Palmer’s poor slice wide was the best opportunity of a cagey opening before Mitoma lit up a bitterly cold Valentine’s Day encounter with a moment of magic.
Following a searching pass from goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, the Japan winger sublimely plucked the ball out of the air before beating Trevoh Chalobah and rifling into the bottom right corner from inside the D.
Chelsea briefly thought they had levelled 10 minutes short of half-time when captain Enzo Fernandez headed home Malo Gusto’s cross, only to be penalised for a push on Joel Veltman.
The visitors’ frustration was heightened three minutes later following some more questionable defending.
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