Welbeck scores twice for Brighton to stun Chelsea 3-1
LONDON :Former England striker Danny Welbeck scored twice as Brighton and Hove Albion came from behind to stun 10-man Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Saturday.
It was a humiliating turnaround for the home side who had dominated the game before the break with Enzo Fernandez scoring a 24th-minute header for a deserved lead.
Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen had kept the visitors in the game with two fine saves to deny Fernandez and James from free kicks just outside the area.
But the game was turned on its head eight minutes into the second half when defender Trevoh Chalobah was sent off following intervention from VAR for a foul on midfielder Diego Gomez.
The Paraguayan had burst free of the Chelsea defence and after lengthy scrutiny of the pitchside monitor was judged by referee Simon Hooper to have been denied a goal-scoring chance.
It took Brighton until the 77th minute to capitalise on their advantage as Chelsea became increasingly desperate in defence.
The 34-year-old Welbeck equalised in the 77th minute, a bullet header from a Yankubah Minteh cross.
Fellow substitute Maxim de Cuyper scored his own header in the second of 11 minutes of added time and Welbeck rounded off a triumphant afternoon for the south coast side, latching on to a pass from Brajan Gruda and firing in the visitors' third.
The result drops Chelsea down to seventh in the table with Brighton in 10th.
