publish time

03/12/2023

author name Arab Times

publish time

03/12/2023

Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez, left, and Brighton's Evan Ferguson fight for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Brighton and Hove Albion, at Stamford Bridge stadium in London. (AP )

LONDON, Dec 3 (Agencies): Chelsea managed to secure a crucial home victory, overcoming the challenge of Brighton in a 3-2 win despite being reduced to ten men. The Blues dominated early on, capitalizing on two corners that caused significant issues for Brighton. Enzo Fernandez netted his first Premier League goal from the initial corner, while Colwill hammered in his inaugural Chelsea goal, doubling their lead. Just before halftime, Buonanotte curled in an exceptional strike to reduce Chelsea’s lead, and the situation worsened for the Blues as Gallagher received his second yellow card.

Fernandez extended Chelsea’s lead in the 65th minute with a penalty after Milner fouled Mudryk. Brighton managed to pull back another goal in stoppage time, with Pedro flicking it in at the near post. In the closing moments, the referee initially awarded a spot-kick to Brighton for handball, but VAR overturned the decision. The victory propels Chelsea into 10th place, and they aim to build momentum as they face Manchester United on Wednesday. Brighton remains in eighth position, with their next fixture being against Brentford at home.

Anthony Gordon scored for the fourth straight home game for Newcastle to earn a 1-0 win over Manchester United.
The winger tapped in from close range from Kieran Trippier’s cross in the 55th minute for the only goal of a game Newcastle dominated at St. James’ Park.
It ended a run of three victories in a row without conceding for Man United, which was overtaken by Newcastle and dropped to seventh place.

Already hit hard by a long list of absentees that is into double figures, Newcastle saw goalkeeper Nick Pope helped off in the 86th with a suspected dislocated left shoulder sustained when he dived to stop a ball that was blocked in front of him.
“It’s looks bad,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said. “He’s done it before and had it operated on and come back successfully. But I don’t know what the future holds for him, I don’t know if he will need an operation or not.”

Pope’s replacement, Martin Dubravka, let in a goal in the 89th from a rare chance for United but it was disallowed for offside against Harry Maguire, who unwittingly deflected home a shot from substitute Antony.
Trippier is contributing as much in attack as he is in defense for Newcastle. It was a league-leading seventh assist of the campaign for the right back, who struck the underside of the crossbar from a free kick in the first half.

Both teams were coming off draining and, in some ways, demoralizing away trips in Europe midweek. Newcastle conceded a contentious equalizer deep into stoppage time against Paris Saint-Germain and Man United was held by Galatasaray to 3-3 despite twice holding a two-goal lead.
United appeared to lack energy against Newcastle, having only one shot on target and conceding 22 attempts.

“Of course there are lots of danger signs for any team when you have to put them into another game so quickly,” Howe said.
“What I was concerned about was the response that we would have after conceding such a late goal in Paris. It would have been easy to feel sorry for ourselves after that, but we rolled our sleeves up and were excellent again tonight.”