Brighton tear apart sorry Chelsea to go sixth and deepen Blues' collapse

For Chelsea, this was not just another defeat. It was another historically bad one. 

Liam Rosenior's side has now lost five straight league matches for the first time since 1993, and in failing to score again, they have set a new unwanted Premier League-era record for their longest scoreless run. Across all competitions, Chelsea now has just one win in their last nine games, and while some of those defeats at least carried an element of misfortune or competitiveness, that excuse barely applied here. 

Brighton were better almost from the first whistle. It took less than two minutes for them to force Robert Sanchez into action, with the Chelsea goalkeeper pushing Kaoru Mitoma's close-range header over the bar. From the resulting corner, the hosts went in front. Jorrel Hato's poor clearance fell kindly for Ferdi Kadioglu, whose effort took a deflection off Wesley Fofana and ended up in the net. 

That early goal only sharpened Brighton's confidence, and for long periods of the first half , they toyed with Chelsea. 

Jan Paul van Hecke soon tested Sanchez again, while Georginio Rutter dragged an effort just wide as Brighton repeatedly found space and looked capable of blowing the game open. One of the biggest chances came midway through the half after a dreadful Sanchez pass gifted Yankuba Minteh the chance to square for Jack Hinshelwood, who somehow failed to convert before Trevoh Chalobah cleared off the line. 

Chelsea did improve slightly toward the end of the first half, but not in any way that truly threatened Brighton. They still failed to register a shot on target before the break, and the frustration among the traveling support only deepened. 

The visitors' first attempt of the second half came through Romeo Lavia, who fired over in the 47th minute, but any faint hope of a Chelsea response was soon crushed. 

Brighton struck again on the break after a Chelsea attack broke down, and this time Hinshelwood made amends for his earlier miss by finishing clinically to double the lead. It was a goal that summed up the difference between the sides : Brighton sharp, direct, and ruthless ; Chelsea slow to recover and even slower to react. 

Mitoma then came close to making it three with a volley that drifted just wide, while Kadioglu was denied twice by Sanchez as Brighton looked increasingly eager to pile on the damage. 

Eventually, they did. Substitute Danny Welbeck added a stoppage-time goal to complete the rout and put a deserved gloss on what had been one of Brighton's most comfortable wins of the season. Fabian Hurzeler's team has now won six of their last eight league matches, and with this result, they have given their European hopes another major lift. 

For Chelsea, though, the story is all about collapse. This latest defeat leaves the club in full freefall, and attention will once again turn to Rosenior, who was the target of abusive chants from Chelsea supporters during the second half. The Blues do at least have an FA Cup semi-final against Leeds United at Wembley on Sunday to distract them briefly, but whether Rosenior is still in charge by then has become a very real question. 

At this point, Chelsea are no longer just losing. They are falling apart.