Chelsea’s downfall from title challengers to team fighting for scraps is BRUTAL

Two months after the day Chelsea came from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur and put itself in the mix as title candidates, their only hope for silverware this season is now the Europa Conference League.

A competition in which the team value of Chelsea is marginal less than all other teams involved.

The day after that victory against Spurs in December, the backpage of this newspaper was at the head 'Now Fans Can Dream'.

The side of Enzo Maresca was five games in an eight-match winning streak and only four points behind Liverpool in the Premier League.

Maresca warned that his side was not ready for a title statement, but the downfall was brutal, with only three victories in their last ten.

Perhaps the most worrying part of this weak display on the south coast was the lack of threat they shared in the last third, with only one attempted and that came in the third minute.

Bart Verbruggen entered the cross of Cole Palmer in the fifth minute inexplicably, but after that he was not forced to save.

In order not to test a keeper under pressure after such a Howler was astonishing from a Chelsea perspective.

They came into play without a recognized striker with Nicolas Jackson injured, although he is expected to be fit when they play Brighton again on Friday.

“Sometimes you have to play games without a player to realize how important they are,” said Maresca.

When Christopher Nunku, who started in the middle, was halfway through the goal, he chose to complain the ball and wasted a golden chance. That was his only touch in the Brighton Box.

On the flanks, Jadon Sancho was a passenger, who barely tested Joel Veltman, even after the full-back was booked, while Pedro Neto hardly set the game on fire.

The decision that Joao Felix, who scored on his AC Milan debut last week, seems to be crazy, even when Maresca insisted that Chelsea did not miss him.

Palmer also had a rare day. He scored four goals in 20 minutes The last time these two parties met, but this was a reminder that he cannot always do it alone.

By the time the whistle went, the most traveling support was on the way to the outputs. Under the ownership of Roman Abramovich, Chelsea never went without silverware for more than two years, but for now their waiting has been going on since 2021.

For Brighton, who has never won a great honor, this was the perfect antidote for their 7-0 Thrashing in Nottingham Forest when they won their first home game since November.

In the week since then, Fabian Hurzeler burned his tactical plans for that match for his players and then took the time to have one-on-one with them to understand the situation.

Veltman, who is two years older than Hurzeler, said that in training it was 'the best week ever, quality and intensity'.

That is probably the kind of week that Maresca and Co need before they return to Brighton this week. Otherwise they run the risk from the top four.

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