Chelsea slump again as Brighton condemn Frank Lampard to third straight defeat

Chelsea’s miserable season continued as Brighton came from behind to condemn them to a third straight defeat with a 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge.

Conor Gallagher had put the hosts ahead in the 13th minute, but Danny Welbeck hit back before the break and Julio Enciso fired a stunning second-half winner.

Caretaker boss Frank Lampard — greeted with homecoming banners in his first game since returning to the dugout following Graham Potter’s dismissal — could not prevent his side from slipping to defeat at Wolves last weekend, and then against Real Madrid in their Champions League quarter-final first leg.

But Brighton outplayed Chelsea’s expensively-assembled squad on Saturday to further compound the west Londoners’ woe and pick up their first ever league win at Stamford Bridge.

Roberto De Zerbi’s side clocked up 26 shots to Chelsea’s six, with the home side mustering an expected goals total of just 0.6.

Lampard made a quadruple substitution shortly after the restart, taking off Enzo Fernandez, Wesley Fofana, Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic — players signed in recent years for a collective sum of around £280million — but the reshuffle failed to spark a comeback.

Boos rang around the stadium from home supporters after a result that leaves Chelsea 11th in the Premier League table — 17 points off the top four.

Chelsea are without a win in six games in all competitions and have scored just one goal in their last five matches.

Real Madrid are up next at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, with Lampard’s side looking to overturn a 2-0 deficit.

Lampard wants ‘football basics’ from players

Lampard admitted Brighton could have won by more — and urged his players to get back to “basics”.

He said: “It’s disappointing on every level. The better team won — they could have won by more.

“They played like a team; they’ve been working together for a long time, give them credit, but it’s not good enough from our point of view. The basic parts of football — to fight, to run, and those things — we were short on. We’ve got a big game on Tuesday. There’s no point in being too down, but professionally we have to understand why today went the way it did.”

Asked he he thought pre-match changes had affected the side’s rhythm, he said: “It could have done but the reality is that some players physically wouldn’t be able to play Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday. Some of those changes were forced, some were opportunities. You have to be ready to come in.

“As a team we were short so there’s no point in going in individually; maybe my job’s to do that behind the scenes. Collectively, we have to look at where we can get better very quickly and for me it’s football basics.

“The beauty of football is that you can change a story very quickly. Chelsea supporters on Tuesday will be coming to see a team try…