Chelsea and Todd Boehly reminded by Brighton that a team is more than a collection of players

Despite falling behind to a lucky goal and another handball call not going their way, Brighton came back to further deepen the gloom over Chelsea.

“Welcome home Super Frank”, read the banner flying from the Shed End as the teams took to the pitch for the Premier League match between Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge at five to three. Whether they all still felt the same way by five to five is a different matter altogether, as Brighton put them to the sword, despite injuries and yet another VAR lack of intervention which only seems likely to further fuel the growing feeling that there is one set of rules for the ‘biggest’ clubs and another for the rest.

It’s difficult to see why Chelsea have opted for Frank Lampard to mind them through to the end of the season, other than for vibes. They came away from this match having scored a goal, but even that required a deflection of Wile E Coyote proportions, while his era had already begun with 90 minutes without a shot on target at Molineux against Wolves and singularly failing sufficiently rouse themselves for that all-important trip to Madrid, a match from which they emerged with a 2-0 defeat, not quite the point of no return in a two-legged tie, but certainly the point at which the prospect of overcoming Real Madrid starts to feel… figurative.

Within the first nine minutes Brighton had created three chances, Alex Mac Allister rippling the side netting on one side of the goal and shooting narrowly wide on the other, and Evan Ferguson thudding a shot out against the crossbar. But it was Chelsea took the first advantage with a huge slice of luck, a shot from Connor Gallagher which deflected off the foot of Lewis Dunk and completely wrong-footed goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

Brighton were straight back on the offensive, but the Big Club represtentatives in the VAR box turned away a handball against Christian Pulisic which took the ball away from the onrushing Pervis Estupinan. Pulisic didn’t catch the ball, basketball ball dribble it the length of the pitch and slam dunk it into the Brighton goal, rather than just knocking it away from the Brighton midfielder, so protests were ignored.

It was starting to feel as though the afternoon was slipping away from them. Joel Veltman was injured and had to be replaced by Julio Encisco. Evan Ferguson suffered the same and was withdrawn in favour of Danny Welbeck. A string of excellent saves from Kepa Arrizabalaga was as much as could be…