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It may not have been a dominant start but Chelsea, after splurging nearly £200 million during the transfer window, started their Premier League season with a comfortable 3-1 win against Brighton on Monday. The goals came through Jorginho, Reece James and Kurt Zouma at the Amex Stadium.
Chelsea’s big signing Timo Werner, on PL debut, was involved in the opening goal of the contest when he was fouled by Mat Ryan resulting in a spot-kick which Jorginho duly converted giving the visitors a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute.
The first half ended with Frank Lampard’s men with a slim 1-o lead which was neutralised when Lucas Trossard brought Brighton to level terms nine minutes after the restart.
However, that was short-lived as James fired one into the top-right corner to restore Chelsea’s lead before Zouma scored the third of his side thanks to a deflection off Adam Webster.
With three points from their season opener, Chelsea have thus become the third side in history alongside Manchester United and Arsenal to have collected 2000 PL points.
Manager Lampard was chuffed to bits with James’ stunning long-range strike. “Reece James’ goal, it had me off my seat and we needed it, we weren’t at our best in that period,” Lampard said. “Reece has got that in him, he is a player of such quality. You try and get him in areas where he can be a threat.”
James acknowledged it wasn’t an easy game as the scoreline may suggest. “We knew it was going to be tough coming here and we knew we would have to put in everything to get the three points and I think we did that. We had to push up a gear,” he told Sky Sports.
“As the games go on we are only to get stronger. There are new players in the team so we have to gel and get stronger week by week. When you bring in high-level players it brings the competition up and makes everyone work harder to get into the team.”
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