Two second half strikes from Jorginho and William gave Chelsea a well-deserved 2-0 victory over Brighton on a day Stamford Bridge witnessed a notable Premier League milestone.
A penalty and a deflection did the trick for Chelsea but Frank Lampard will care little as he gets the proverbial monkey off his back after his side handed him his first league win as a manager at their traditional home.
Jorginho converted a second half penalty to give Chelsea the lead, with spot kick being the 100th to be scored at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League (78 for Chelsea, 22 against), making it the first ground to reach this milestone in the competition.
Lampard made several changes to his side for the EFL Cup clash against Grimsby. Alonso, Barkley and Pedro kept their places in the team from the win.
N’Golo Kante missed out with a hamstring injury, while Christensen and Tomori continued in the middle of the defence. Striker Abraham was restored to the frontline, in front of Pedro, Mount and Willian.
Still, the Blues made hard work of Brighton but in the end a Jorginho penalty and a William strike handed Frank Lampard his first home win of the league campaign.
It was all square at the Stamford Bridge at the break although Chelsea really should have been ahead comfortably but Tammy Abraham struck the post, while Marcos Alonso missed a sitter from close range in an eventful first half.
The Blues’ huffed and puffed but lacked that clinical edge in the final third this afternoon despite their positive approach play.
Brighton’s dogged determination was however finally broken five minutes after the restart when Webster tripped Mason Mount following a silly mistake leaving the referee to point to the penalty spot.
Jorginho kept his nerve to place his effort into the left bottom corner fooling Ryan in Brighton goal, leaving the keeper rooted to the spot. 1-0 to Chelsea.
100 – Jorginho's penalty is the 100th to be scored at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League (78 for Chelsea, 22 against), making it the first ground to reach this milestone in the competition. Spotted. pic.twitter.com/xWUImxXf3t
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 28, 2019
Just after the hour-mark, Frank Lampard sent on Hudson-Odoi for Pedro, the English lad making his first Premier League appearance of the season.
Minutes after Hudson-Odoi made his mark, releasing Willian who finished the job, his effort taking a wicked deflection off a Brighton defender to extend the hosts’ lead and take the contest away from Brighton.
In the end it was enough as the Blues not only won but also kept their first clean sheet of the league season.
