Romelu Lukaku looked gobsmacked as the final whistle blew at Stamford Bridge. After starring in the Boxing Day victory at Aston Villa, the Belgian had proclaimed Chelsea "the hunters" in this season's title race, arguing that "every game now is like a final".
A 1-1 draw at home to Brighton, then, felt like a fatal blow to the Blues' hopes of overhauling Manchester City at the top of the table.
Romelu Lukaku looked gobsmacked as the final whistle blew at Stamford Bridge. After starring in the Boxing Day victory at Aston Villa, the Belgian had proclaimed Chelsea "the hunters" in this season's title race, arguing that "every game now is like a final".
A 1-1 draw at home to Brighton, then, felt like a fatal blow to the Blues' hopes of overhauling Manchester City at the top of the table.
Lukaku himself had opened the scoring in West London, meaning he had struck in consecutive Premier League games for the first time since March 2019, when he was still playing for Manchester United.
But it wasn't enough to earn his side three badly needed points, as Danny Welbeck's 92nd-minute header from Marc Cucurella's cross earned Brighton a fully deserved share of the spoils.
In Chelsea's defence, they gave their all. It just wasn't enough. Their squad has been struggling with illness and injury for the past few months, resulting in a patchy run of form.
And their misfortune continued against Brighton. Indeed, the match, and arguably the league title, began to slip away after Reece James was forced off during the first half with a suspected hamstring problem.
It was perhaps unsurprising that his body broke down. After all, he had been asked to play on the left, instead of his usual right side, in order to give a rest to Marcos Alonso, who has been filling in for the injured Ben Chilwell.
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