Mauricio Pochettino has now gotten two wins in two matches as Chelsea manager following a 4-3 victory over Brighton in Philadelphia, United States, on Saturday evening.
New signings Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson who cost a combined fee of around £85 million, were joined on the scoresheet by Conor Gallagher and Mykhailo Mudryk, who struck his first goal for Chelsea since his £89 million move from Shakhtar Donetsk in January.
Brighton opened the scoring through Danny Welbeck in the 13th minute, which was cancelled out by Nkunku’s strike just six minutes later. The two teams went to half-time at 1-1 and were in for a high-scoring second half.
15 minutes into the second half, the Seagulls were reduced to 10 men following a double yellow card for Jan Paul van Hecke. Mudryk scored his first Chelsea goal with a magnificent strike following a brilliant build-up with Jackson in the 65th minute, slotting a long-range shot past the Brighton goalkeeper.
Jackson provided another assist in the 72nd minute as Gallagher slotted an easy chance to make it 3-1 in Chelsea’s favour. Just four minutes later, Jackson turned scorer from provider and netted Chelsea’s fourth goal of the evening. Brighton pulled one back through a Joao Pedro penalty in the 79th minute, while striker Deniz Undav found the net in the dying minutes of regulated time but it was too little too late as Chelsea emerged 4-3 victors after full-time.
Chelsea and Brighton have a history of competitive matches, having played 14 games since 2012. Prior to this match, Chelsea had won six times, Brighton thrice, and five matches ended in a draw. This latest encounter added another victory to Chelsea’s tally, making it their seventh win against Brighton.
That made it nine goals scored in two games under Pochettino after the 5-0 win over Wrexham earlier this week.
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