Xabi Alonso made history with his first two Premier League matches in charge of Chelsea, but concerns over Moises Caicedo’s fitness dampened a chaotic afternoon at Stamford Bridge where Chelsea survived a Brighton fightback to win 4-3.
Romeo Lavia, Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer all scored as Chelsea raced into a 3-0 lead before the hour, only for Brighton to pull level with three goals of their own and make the final stages uncomfortable.
The seven goals across Alonso’s opening two Premier League fixtures have been scored by no other Chelsea manager in their first two league games, and he becomes only the fourth manager in the competition’s history to oversee seven or more goals in his opening two matches, joining Bobby Robson, Michael Laudrup and Marcelo Bielsa in the record books.
Chelsea scored inside four minutes when a corner caused havoc in the Brighton area. Joao Pedro diverted the ball towards goal at the near post, Mats Wieffer got in the way of Bart Verbruggen as the goalkeeper tried to gather, and the loose ball fell to Lavia, who could not miss from close range.
Two goals followed in quick succession. Rogers, whose move from Aston Villa is already looking like very good business, produced a moment of superb footwork to glide away from three Brighton shirts and cut a low ball across the box for Pedro Neto to convert at the back post.
Then a devastating counter ended with Jorrel Hato tearing into the Brighton half before picking out Joao Pedro, the former Seagulls striker, who took a touch and slotted past Verbruggen.
Brighton’s response made the second half considerably more nervy than Chelsea would have liked. Malick Junior Yalcouye, making his first Premier League start, pulled one back from the rebound after Emiliano Martinez denied Charalampos Kostoulas on his debut in goal for Chelsea.
Then in the 63rd minute, Joao Pedro turned from villain to inadvertent hero for Brighton, deflecting Pascal Gross’s cross into his own net to make it 3-2 and send Stamford Bridge into a state of anxiety.
Palmer provided the answer in the 74th minute, gliding away from multiple Brighton shirts before sweeping a fierce finish into the bottom right corner.
It was his sixth Premier League goal against Brighton and it was watched closely from the stands by Thomas Tuchel and Carlo Ancelotti, two former Chelsea managers now in international football.
Gross bundled in a header deep into stoppage time to make it 4-3 and ensure there were six added minutes of tension, but Chelsea held on.
