John Brewin at the Amex Stadium

‘That was unacceptable in every aspect of the game’ Brighton overtake Chelsea in sixth with 3-0 victory Liam Rosenior bemoaned the “most difficult night” and offered no defence of his Chelsea players after they slumped to a 3-0 defeat at Brighton. “By far,” Rosenior replied when asked if this was the toughest day of his short Chelsea tenure. Questions of whether he survives in his position as head coach until Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final with Leeds will be floated after his team’s abject performance.

Perhaps time to celebrate Brighton’s achievements, though it would be hard not to view this windswept South Coast evening through the lens of Chelsea’s latest crisis. Following another grim chapter in the Liam Rosenior saga, his name taken in vain by angry away fans, Chelsea look on at Brighton as an example of responsible stewardship, of careful recruitment, a model they have failed to emulate and now lag behind in the Premier League table. Brighton’s return to the European football enjoyed under Roberto De Zerbi is fully on the cards. Fabian Hürzeler, an appointment in which there was considerable doubt earlier this season, has revived his team. He has still never been defeated by an opposing English manager. Goals by Ferdi Kadioglu and Jack Hinshelwood had done damage to Chelsea, even if much of it was self-inflicted. The margin of victory might have been far more by the time Danny Welbeck scored the third in stoppage time to complete as convincing a win– and defeat – as it gets.