CLOUDS OF DRY ICE and blue smokebombs to greet the team but one thing remains clear – Chelsea are losing ground and losing the plot.
A third defeat in four amid rampant ill-discipline and rushes of blood that are making a mockery of the so-called World Champions.
From a winning position, Chelsea were reduced to ten men and the only fight they showed was in a mass shoving match in injury time just moments before Brighton struck the fatal blow on a miserable day for boss Enzo Maresca.
How the game ended was a far cry from the latest embarrassing razzmatazz being introduced to matchdays at the home of the Premier League’s Hollywood football club.
Plumes of white puffy smoke pumped from CO2 canisters positioned by the tunnel entrance is the newest gimmick to satisfy the sparkle lust for the American owners.
It’s followed by blue fireworks that explode in mid air and leave a haze hanging over the pitch. If it’s designed to intimidate the opposition it’s a lame duck.
Having taken the lead through midfielder Enzo Fernandez, Chelsea unraveled at ever increasing speed until they were lucky to get away with conceding just three at the end of 11 minutes of second half injury time.
Danny Welbeck, 34 years old, struck twice in the second half to consign boss Maresca to a defeat which sends serious shockwaves through the camp.
The visiting fans delighted in their taunts of ‘you’re just a s***t Brighton & Hove Albion’ as the goals flew in and Maresca’s world crashed around him.
They were referencing the FOUR former Brighton players in the Chelsea line up – part of the £257 million the crafty Seagulls have trousered from the money men at Stamford Bridge in just over three years since Todd Boehly and business partner Behad Eghali bought the club.
Not one of those ex-Albion men looked worth a penny of what Chelsea handed over for their services.
After taking the lead, the whole spine of Maresca’s team disintegrated and left the pitch to loud boos from their own fans.
Defender Trevoh Chalobah was sent off and will be banned for the visit of Premier League champions Liverpool next week.
And with star man Cole Palmer, striker Liam Delap, Tosin and Wesley Fofana out injured, it’s looking grim.
And there’s former boss Jose Mourinho coming to visit on Tuesday.
After four games on the road, Chelsea returned to home turf with just one win as a souvenir from their travels. That was the Carabao Cup third round win at League One Lincoln, where they had to come from behind.
Even when the misfiring Blues got off the mark in the first half, a large dollop of good luck helped the ball on its way into the back of the Brighton net.
Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo sliced his old team’s defence open with a fast, diagonal ball to Reece James at full charge down the right flank.
The Blues captain’s cross took a weighty deflection off the outstretched leg of Kaoru Mitoma, sending the ball on a higher arc across goal.
It dropped to find the waiting head of Fernandez who was unmarked and barely a yard out, so able to simply turn the ball over the line with a gentle nod.
That was the third goal of the season for the Argentine, playing a more advanced role in the absence of crocked Palmer. The normally-defensive midfielder is Chelsea’s top scorer after eight games.
And if he was hoping that facing his old club would inspire Joao Pedro to stick a couple in the onion bag it was a forlorn one.
The Brazilian striker has scored just twice in the Premier League this season and rarely looked like adding to it.
Pedro was one of four ex-Brighton players lining up for Chelsea. Hugs and backslaps before kick off, but after hostilities began at three o’clock and Pedro got a hefty whack from former team-mate Jan Paul van Hecke, he went missing in inaction.
Defensively there are concerns too for Marseca as he approaches a key week in the campaign, looking to avoid a second successive European defeat.
Injuries led to him naming left back Jarrel Hato as a centre half alongside Chalobah. It was a shaky selection and would prove pivotal.
Diego Gomez scored four in a 6-0 Carabao Cup crushing of League One Barnsley.
He was involved in one of the games key moments early in the second half when Maresca’s problems at the back worsened.
He was through on goal when Chalobah, minus his trademark dreadlocks, tripped the striker.
Ref Simon Hooper consulted his monitor and the centre back was sent off rightly for denying a goalscoring opportunity, leaving Chelsea down to ten men with 37 minutes to go.
Chalobah is eligible to play against Benfica in two days’ time but will be banned for the daunting prospect of Premier League champions Liverpool at home next weekend. Good luck with that.
Brighton wasted the free kick from the decision. But ultimately it would cost Chelsea dear.
It was precisely where Chalobah would have been on duty that Welbeck found himself in gloriously open space to power home a stunning header from Yankuba Minteh’s powerful, driven cross.
Chelsea were rattled and rocked and Brighton made the most of it.
Sub Maxim De Cuyper made it 2-1 with a header two minutes into added time and Welbeck got his second and Brighton’s third TEN MINUTES into extra time.
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