Chelsea held off a spirited Brighton fightback to secure a thrilling 4-3 victory at Stamford Bridge and give new manager Xabi Alonso two wins from two games.
The Blues raced into a three-goal lead through Romeo Lavia, Pedro Neto and Joao Pedro during a dominant opening spell.
Brighton responded through Malick Yalcouye before half-time, while Pascal Gross’ effort later deflected off Joao Pedro and past debutant goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to reduce the deficit to 3-2.
The visitors continued to threaten, with Diego Gomez going close and Martinez making several important saves. Brighton also restricted Chelsea to just 25.6 per cent possession, the lowest share the Blues have recorded in a Premier League match.
Chelsea restored their two-goal advantage when Cole Palmer produced a superb finish into the bottom corner.
Gross headed in during stoppage time to give Brighton late hope, but Chelsea held on to claim all three points.
The victory extends Alonso’s perfect start following Chelsea’s 3-2 win over Fulham in his opening league game.
Joao Pedro and Palmer scored for the second consecutive match, while record signing Morgan Rogers provided another assist after setting up Neto for Chelsea’s second goal.
Chelsea were without Enzo Fernandez for a second successive match amid reported interest from Manchester City. Moises Caicedo also suffered an injury shortly after coming on for his first appearance of the season.
Despite defensive concerns, Alonso’s new-look attack once again proved decisive.
Brighton showed impressive resilience despite a lengthy injury list that included Yasin Ayari, Georginio Rutter, Jack Hinshelwood, Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh.
