LONDON -- The image of Xabi Alonso is one of composure personified, protecting the defense and serving the attack with each pass, the pausa in human form. And yet even he could not help but get carried away as his side let the goals rain at both ends once more, a thrilling 4-3 win over Brighton and Hove Albion inviting the rest of Stamford Bridge to get as carried away as he did, jumping high to punch the air in celebration of Cole Palmer's fourth goal. Much as that celebration ran contrary to what might be expected of their coach, so did Chelsea's performance.
At 26% possession, the hosts had by far the least of the ball that any Alonso team has mustered up in a domestic league match. The only time his team has passed the ball more inaccurately than the 67.4% success rate on Sunday was a 3-0 defeat to Bochum at the end of his first season in charge at Leverkusen, one where they spent 82 minutes a man down. Even in that game, they completed 217 passes.
Against Brighton, it was just 146. By a string of metrics, this was the least Alonso game that Alonso ever did coach. The Spanish boss who rocked up at Bayer Leverkusen and urged his squad to slow down and to only attack when their rest defense was set is now letting his forwards run loose.
Perhaps there is no better way to exploit the talents of Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro. The attacking midfielders in particular are not the sort who shine brightest when asked to apply a chokehold in the final third. Get them running and see the damage they do.
It is worth saying that there is a difference between control and threat. There are plenty of statistics that point to Chelsea being at least Brighton's equal in the former. For all the extra possession their visitors had it was 29 touches in the penalty area to the Blues, 28 to the Seagulls.
Direct running created 17 shots worth 2.97 expected goals, almost double Brighton's tally on the latter metric. 25.6% - Chelsea's 25.6% possession and 146 successful passes v Brighton were both their lowest figures on record (from 2003-04) in a Premier League match, while their 67.0% pass accuracy was their lowest in a home league game since February 2004 v Charlton (65.9%).Methodology. pic.twitter.com/GJanPdJxHQ This was not a team who were hunkering deep. From the outset, this was a team that got numbers up the pitch quickly. Their opener might have come from a set piece spilled by Bart Verbruggen but the Pedro Neto cross that forced the set piece was fired in with five blue shirts in the box.
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