Goals from Olivier Giroud, Eden Hazard and Ruben Loftus-Cheek fired Chelsea to a comfortable 3-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday.
Chelsea maintained the pressure on their top-four rivals as the strolled home to a 3-0 victory over Chris Hughton’s Brighton & Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge in the midweek fixture.
Chelsea started off brightly and kept knocking on the Brighton doors, but the Seagulls’ stubborn defence held firm, until the 38th minute when Callum Hudson-Odoi, who was making his first Premier League start, found Olivier Giroud after some wing-play and the Frenchman opened the scoring with a delicate finish from close range.
Brighton offered very little threat in attack and at the hour-mark Chelsea doubled their advantage as Eden Hazard found the back of the net with a beautiful finish from the edge of the box. Minutes later, the game was done and dusted as Ruben Loftus-Cheek made it 3-0 with a lovely curled effort that nestled in the top-corner.
The result meant Chelsea moved to fifth place on the Premier League table, level on points with fourth-placed Arsenal and just a point below Tottenham Hotspur, who are third. Here’s how the Chelsea supporters reacted to an important victory on social media.
Almost every supporter implored Sarri to keep picking this team on a regular basis.
Dear Maurizio Sarri,
Please start this team every game.
Many thanks,
All Chelsea Fans. pic.twitter.com/lttnk9b8o1
— CFC-Blues.com (@CFCBlues_com) April 3, 2019
Hazard goal and assist ✅
Loftus-Cheek goal and assist ✅
Hudson-Odoi full 90min and assist✅
10/10 game by Chelsea and Sarri. If we want champions league this should be our lineup. pic.twitter.com/HKFiF8oGvH— CM (@CFCJorg) April 3, 2019
FT: Chelsea 3-0 Brighton
– Clean Sheet for Kepa
– Christensen starts
– CHO & RLC starts
– CHO ➡️ Giroud
– RLC ➡️ Hazard = superb goal
– Hazard ➡️ RLC = copy & paste goal
– Beautiful line-up that should be selected for long time ago#cfc #CHEBHA pic.twitter.com/3PJJ6AylXJ— ~ True Blue ~ (@primebee21) April 3, 2019
I’ll go ahead and speak for every Chelsea fan.
That is our best XI and should be used for every PL game for the rest of the season. Rotate the squad for the Europa League until we need these players for the semis or the final. pic.twitter.com/DDzhWyN8R3
— Ayden (@AddictedToCFC) April 3, 2019
What a win! Chelsea 3-0 Brighton!
The team played so well & we looked very positive going forwards. The atmosphere felt good, & fans were happy. This is what happens when we play our best players. I hope Sarri see this & keeps picking the players who deserve it.⚽? #CHEBHA #CFC pic.twitter.com/JG60SOeaPb— William (@WABurgess) April 3, 2019
The starting 11 was the team @chelsea fans have been waiting for a long time. CHO and RLC were brilliant. ? Need to have these two more often in the starting line up. The Chelsea youth prevails. ?? #CHEBHA
— Anvay Singh (@AnvaySingh) April 3, 2019
Top 4 might be just out of reach because of all the silly points we have dropped but I know one thing… start this team in the Europa league & Chelsea can beat anyone
— SWH (@MadMontana) April 3, 2019
The fans were full of praise for academy products Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The former made a very good impression on his first start in the Premier League as he got the assist for Giroud’s opener and was a threat from the wide areas, while the latter got on the scoresheet with a sublime effort.
Hudson-Odoi has been exceptional defensively tonight! Showing Sarri up massively here
— Carl Jackson (@jacko_cfc) April 3, 2019
CHO starts and grabs an assist ? pic.twitter.com/DvYGbKKITB
— Dapps (@OladapoJ) April 3, 2019
Young guns might just save #SarriBall after all. So happy for CHO and RLC! #CFC
— Thomas Booth (@TC_Booth) April 3, 2019
FT ?#CHEBHA
Good enough to play more, against the bottom half of the table minimum/ because those teams aren’t better then Europa opposition. Contributed to goals every time they have played. Wanna know how to provide Defensive stability? Put the ball in the net
CHO X RLC pic.twitter.com/NjzaBmY2Gw
— ??? | ‘The 12th Man’ (@matissearmani) April 3, 2019
At last CHO and RLC start and look what happens! ?♂️
— Matt Clifford (@mattclifford11) April 3, 2019
RLC & CHO ??
— CFC ZEE (@ZE_1905) April 3, 2019
CHO and RLC masterclass. Inject it!!! pic.twitter.com/vF8NiFggiF
— Joyce (@pronteaux) April 3, 2019
CHO And RLC with a goal and two assists between the two of them, deserve to start every game. #CHEBHA #ChelseaFC https://t.co/ABfs4jUrnM
— aadam (@sid_aadam) April 3, 2019
If today doesn’t prove that RLC and CHO need to start on the regular idk what will
— The Honorable (@BrotherFurious) April 3, 2019