Enzo Maresca admitted Chelsea’s dismal 3-0 defeat at Brighton was the “worst performance” of his reign as Japan forward Kaoru Mitoma produced a contender for Premier League goal of the season on Saturday morning.
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Maresca’s hapless side failed to muster a shot on target in their second defeat in the space of seven days at the Amex Stadium.
Mitoma scored the winner when Brighton knocked Chelsea out of the FA Cup fourth round with a 2-1 victory last weekend and he again tormented the Blues with a breathtaking piece of skill in the first half before Gambia winger Yankuba Minteh netted either side of the interval.
Maresca, in his first season in charge after arriving from Leicester, said this week that Chelsea “belong” in the Champions League, with the club setting him the target of qualifying within two years.
But Chelsea’s third defeat in their last four games in all competitions was another blow to their hopes of finishing in the top four.
“I feel pressure always, not only now, but tonight the performance we can say was the worst performance since I arrived,” Maresca said.
“With this result the frustration is with everything. We feel really sorry for the fans who came here.”
Maresca will have to find a solution to Chelsea’s chronically error-prone defence if the fourth-placed Blues, two points ahead of Manchester City and Newcastle, are to achieve their target this term.
“When you play this kind of game, the situation we are in, and you perform in the way we did tonight there are many things you can do better,” Maresca said.
“It is not only mentally. When you play these games in the moment we are, where you can make the gap bigger to the ones behind us and you perform like we did tonight, there are many things that we need to do better.
“But we are still fourth and we are still in the race to finish well.”
Thrashed 7-0 at Nottingham Forest in their previous league game, Brighton had won only two of their previous 12 top-flight matches.
The Seagulls have got back on track at Chelsea’s expense with a pair of impressive wins.
After beginning the season with six goals in his first seven league games, Cole Palmer had netted eight times, two from the penalty spot, in the following 17 matches in the competition.
Chelsea had slipped from early title contenders to top four hopefuls since Palmer’s red-hot start cooled.
Palmer, at times operating as a false-nine in the absence of Nicolas Jackson, again looked out of sorts on the south-coast as he blazed over from the edge of the area, then scuffed wide from Noni Madueke’s cross.
Madueke limped off injured moments later, adding to Chelsea’s growing injury woes.
There was worse to come for Maresca in the 27th minute as Brighton took the lead in eye-catching fashion.
Bart Verbruggen’s long goal-kick was superbly controlled by Mitoma with a remarkably deft touch as it dropped over his shoulder.
That was just the start of Mitoma’s magical moment as he adroitly rolled the ball away from Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah and planted a fine low finish into the far corner from the edge of the area.
Chelsea threatened an immediate equaliser but Enzo Fernandez’s header from Malo Gusto’s cross was ruled out for the midfielder’s blatant push.
Even that near miss was a false dawn for Chelsea as Brighton struck again in the 38th minute.
Conceding possession deep into their own half, sloppy Chelsea were unable to recover as Danny Welbeck teed up Minteh, who evaded Marc Cucurella before drilling home from close-range.
Maresca’s men were in disarray at the back and Brighton made it three in the 63rd minute.
After Chelsea appealed in vain for a foul on Levi Colwill by Welbeck, the forward found Minteh and he danced past Cucurella to score with a fierce strike from eight yards.
“Chelsea have got to get back to winning games as soon as possible or this season can really unravel for them,” former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher warned on Sky Sports.
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