Chelsea ended a three-game winless and goalless streak with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion in the third round of the EFL Cup.
Clinching their first triumph of the month - and a first since beating AFC Wimbledon in the second round - Mauricio Pochettino's side survived a couple of first-half scares before a Nicolas Jackson finish sent Roberto De Zerbi's men packing.
Lesley Ugochukwu, Cole Palmer and Ian Maatsen were among those afforded opportunities by Pochettino on Wednesday night, and the Blues took just three minutes to carve out their first opening, but Mykhaylo Mudryk's curling strike was meat and drink for Bart Verbruggen.
Brighton attempted to fight fire with fire during a frenetic start, and while they were doing little to trouble former number one Robert Sanchez, the Spaniard was nearly the architect of the hosts' downfall in the 24th minute, gifting the ball to Joao Pedro on the edge of the box and breathing a huge sigh of relief as the striker's chip landed on the roof of the net.
Sanchez continued to do his best to help out his former club, as with 33 minutes gone, the former Seagull played the wrong pass out from his goal, picking out Moises Caicedo under immense pressure from Carlos Baleba.
Appeals for a foul fell on deaf ears, and Ansu Fati found himself one-on-one with Sanchez, but the Barcelona loanee failed to get enough venom behind his shot and gave the Chelsea shot-stopper a relatively simple save down low.
© Reuters
Seeking to take their goalkeeper out of the firing line, Chelsea went down the other end of the field in injury time and came close to drawing first blood as Mudryk cut back for Palmer, but the Englishman could not hit the target from a tight angle.
Fati's evening came to a premature end as De Zerbi introduced Solly March for the second period, but the visitors fell behind just five minutes after the restart, as Palmer threaded a delicate ball through the legs of Jan Paul van Hecke into the path of Jackson, whose first-time strike trickled past a stranded Verbruggen into the bottom corner.
A smart stop from Verbruggen was needed to deny Jackson a brace in the 62nd minute, not long before Baleba was forced off with an injury, allowing Billy Gilmour to enjoy a warm reception from the Stamford Bridge faithful upon his introduction.
The Palmer-Jackson combination saw the latter find the back of the net again in the 72nd minute, but the offside flag saved Brighton's bacon before Sanchez redeemed himself for his first-half mishaps with a strong save from March's diving header a minute later.
Roared on by an increasingly animated De Zerbi, Brighton kept the pressure on in a seven-minute injury-time period, but Pervis Estupinan and Pedro both missed the target in the dying embers, and Chelsea survived a few moments with 10 men after Ben Chilwell gingerly trudged off.
Now aiming to arrest their Premier League slump, Chelsea have until Monday to recuperate for a West London derby away to Fulham, while Brighton - who failed to score for the first time this season at Stamford Bridge - travel to Aston Villa in Saturday's lunchtime kickoff.
Ben Knapton
