Graham Potter, the manager of Chelsea, was humiliated upon his return to Brighton when his former team stopped his winning streak with a dramatic 4-1 victory on Saturday.
Since leaving Brighton to take over the Blues, Potter had gone nine games without a loss.
However, Brighton derailed the Chelsea manager’s first meeting with the Seagulls as Roberto De Zerbi, the Seagulls’ new manager who took Potter’s place, enjoyed his first victory.
Leandro Trossard’s early goal gave Brighton an early advantage, and subsequent own goals by Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah added insult to Potter’s injury.
Just after the interval, Kai Havertz scored to give Potter some hope, but Pascal Gross’s late goal added insult to injury.
When Potter got off the Chelsea team bus, he was booed, and the Brighton supporters sang mockingly, if unrealistically, “you’re getting sacked in the morning” throughout their team’s poor performance.
Potter’s squad plummeted to fifth place and currently trails league leaders Manchester City by eight points, making it a forgettable afternoon for him.
Chelsea had a sluggish first half against Brighton, their first loss since 1933, despite having advanced to the round of 16 of the Champions League with a victory at Salzburg during the previous week.
When Brighton grabbed the lead in the fifth minute, Chelsea captain Thiago Silva had already twice had to use his own goal line to prevent Pervis Estupinan and Trossard.
Kaoru Mitoma, a Japanese winger making his full Premier League debut, provided the assist by finding Trossard, who beat Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to score his sixth goal of the year.
With just 14 minutes remaining, Albion increased their lead by two.
When Chelsea midfielder Loftus-Cheek attempted to deflect Solly March’s inswinging corner into his own goal, the crossbar’s underside was his only option.
“Potter, what’s the score?” echoed across the Amex Stadium as Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic miraculously missed a goal-mouth opportunity after Robert Sanchez blocked Conor Gallagher’s original shot.
Sanchez, the goalkeeper for Spain, then outdid himself by making a breathtaking one-handed diving save to deflect Gallagher’s flicked header over the crossbar.
Three minutes before halftime, Chelsea’s attempted comeback was put out of commission.
When Estupinan cut the ball back from the left, Chalobah caused harm by directing the ball past Kepa and into his own goal.
After Loftus-pass, Cheek’s Gallagher sent a tempting cross from the right, and Havertz slipped past Albion’s defense to head the ball in four minutes after the break.
Although Chelsea dominated for the majority of the final 25 minutes, their humiliation was complete when Gross tapped in on the rebound after Julio Enciso was denied by backup goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.