EPL: Chelsea ease past Brighton

Goals from Jorginho and Willian have earned Chelsea a deserved 2-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion in Saturday’s Premier League fixture at Stamford Bridge.
Having wasted a number of opportunities in the first half, Chelsea finally made the breakthrough shortly after the restart through Jorginho’s penalty, before Willian wrapped up the points 15 minutes from time.
Frank Lampard will also be relieved to see his side keep their first clean sheet since his arrival, ending a nine-game streak.
While the West Londoners have moved into sixth position in the standings, Brighton are now 16th after a sixth game without a win in the top flight.
Chelsea went straight onto the front foot with Mathew Ryan needing to be alert to deny Tammy Abraham, while Jorginho also saw a volley from the edge of the area go wide of the far post.
The Blues remained in the ascendancy with Willian sending a shot well over the crossbar from distance, before an inswinging free kick from Mason Mount struck the far post after Abraham failed to make any connection with a header.
However, for all of Chelsea’s dominance during the opening quarter, they had nothing to show for it, which only encouraged Brighton as they looked to threaten at the other end.
The opportunity that they were waiting for arrived shortly after the half-hour mark with Neal Maupay being played through on goal, but the summer signing was denied by Kepa Arrizabalaga who made the save on the edge of his own box.
Chelsea responded with Ross Barkley seeing a deflected long-range effort go just past the far post, before Ryan made an excellent stop down to his left to keep out the Englishman’s volley from six yards.
The next opportunity went to Pedro, who saw a shot from inside the area go straight at Ryan, while Marcos Alonso squandered a better chance by volleying over the crossbar at the back post.
Chelsea finally made the breakthrough shortly after the restart. After Adam Webster miscontrolled a pass in front of his own goal, the defender could only respond by tripping Mount.
Despite Barkley and Pedro being on the pitch, Jorginho was given responsibility for the kick, and the Italian kept his nerve to fire the ball to Ryan’s right.
The Blues pushed for a second with Pedro firing a shoot too close to Ryan, although going behind forced Brighton to commit more men forward in search of an equaliser.
Gaetan Bong created an opportunity for Pascal Gross shortly after the hour mark, only for the playmaker to send his header from close range harmlessly over the crossbar.
Lampard made the decision to introduce Callum Hudson-Odoi for his first Premier League outing since April, and the academy graduate got himself straight into the thick of the action to come within a whisker of playing in Willian on the far side of the area.
However, Brighton still had ambitions at the other end, with Steven Alzate seeing a deflected effort go marginally wide of the near post before Dan Burn struck the crossbar with a downward header.
The extra urgency in the Seagulls attack acted as the catalyst for a Chelsea reply, and the home side went further in front with 15 minutes left as Willian’s shot was deflected inside the near post by Burn.
That goal effectively ended the game as a contest, with Chelsea able to focus their attention on keeping a morale-boosting shutout at the 10th time of asking.