Chelsea suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat against Brighton, their fifth consecutive league defeat and no points, breaking their lowest record of the season.
It was the first time since 1912 that the Blues had endured such a poor performance, with head coach Liam Rosenior being sacked in the face of chants from the away side.
Goals from Ferdi Kadioglu, Jack Hinshelwood and Danny Welbeck gave Brighton victory and the Seagulls moved above Chelsea into sixth place, with four games remaining and further momentum towards a European place.
It was another embarrassing defeat for the Chelsea hierarchy, who have seen their team lose three consecutive games to Brighton at the Amex despite spending £262 million signing key players in recent seasons.
One of them, £120m signing Moises Caicedo, was responsible for Hinshelwood’s second goal, but Brighton fans were delighted with his downfall and it was a game all of them will remember.
The home fans rubbed salt into the visitors’ wounds by chanting in support of Rosenior, who had finished his playing days and started his coaching career with the Seagulls.
Cole Palmer and top scorer Joao Pedro were noticeably absent for the goal-hungry Blues, but Brighton immediately ensured it was going to be a tough night for the visitors, scoring after three minutes.
Pascal Gross’s corner kick was misdirected by Jorel Hato at the near post, and Wesley Fofana’s deflection was side-footed home by Kadioglu.
Ferdi Kadioglu (c) celebrates after giving Brighton the lead against Chelsea
From then on Brighton dominated.
Sanchez almost gave his former club a second goal after denying Jan Paul van Hecke from doubling Albion’s lead, then a frightening pass from the Chelsea keeper allowed Hinshelwood to be slotted home by Carlos Bareva, but his meek shot cleared the goal line by Trevor Chalobah.
Chelsea were second best in each division, taking 32 minutes to make one tackle during the match, but didn’t register their first shot until 43 minutes had passed.
Following Caicedo’s slip, Georginio Rutter darted forward and slid in to Hinshelwood, who slotted the ball into the bottom left corner.
Immediately after the second goal, a disgruntled away team erupted into explicit chants aimed at Rosenior and Chelsea co-owner Behada Egbali.
Chelsea’s misery worsened in stoppage time when Welbeck converted a low cross from fellow substitute Maxim de Kuiper with his wide foot.
Chelsea will switch their focus to Sunday’s FA Cup, where they will face Leeds at Wembley in the semi-final.
Cahill: Nothing positive.
Former Chelsea captain Gary Cahill told Sky Sports:
“As I said before, this was an important game, a game they should have won, and they just completely lost, so there’s no positives to take from that game.
“I have some sympathy for Liam (Rosenia) and feel like the players have let him down, but there are some unpleasant statistics about Chelsea and there are going to be tough times ahead.
“And Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final is extremely important for this club, but they look fragile, lack confidence and look vulnerable. And to be honest, it was a difficult game to watch in fairness.”
