Chelsea booked their place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup thanks to their hard-fought victory over Brighton on Wednesday.
Nicolas Jackson’s strike early in the second half proved the difference between the two sides at the Stamford Bridge.
That goal also ended Chelsea’s winless run of three games, and it was also Chelsea’s first goal of the month.
The opening half was tightly contested as both sides had chances to break the deadlock.
Firstly, Mykhailo Murdyk put his curling effort close to the goalkeeper before the Ukrainian set up Cole Palmer, who failed to find the target from close range.
Brighton were then gifted their first goalscoring chance by Roberto Sanchez, who played a wayward pass to Joao Pedro, but the forward failed to keep his chipped effort on target.
Brighton had another chance few moments later, but this time, Sanchez did brilliant to deny Ansu Fati.
The first half went into the break goalless, and from their first attempt on target in the second half, Jackson broke the deadlock with a wonderful finish after nice work from Palmer who found the former in space.
Jackson was then denied a second by Bart Verbruggen, who stretched his leg to guide away the Senegalese shot.
Soon after, Jackson got the ball into the back of the net after both Ian Maatsen and Palmer to set him up, but this time, his goal got ruled out for offside by the lines-man.
Brighton went immediately to the other side of the pitch and almost levelled matters when Soly March sent a diving header towards the goal, but Sanchez used a strong hand to deny his former teammate.
Late on in the second half, Pedro got a brilliant chance to level matters but failed as he volleyed over the bar.
With this victory, Chelsea advance to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup where they will play Blackburn Rovers at home.
