Chelsea’s victory over Brighton in the third round of the Carabao Cup, according to Mauricio Pochettino, “must be” the turning point of their season.
The Blues won for the first time in four games thanks to a goal from Nicolas Jackson, who also set up a matchup against Blackburn Rovers of the Championship in the round of 16.
Pochettino claims that the victory over the Seagulls must be the outcome to jump-start Chelsea’s season because they have had trouble scoring goals this year and have only won one of their six Premier League games.
“It should be, it must be,” he said. “It’s about time. Today there were many positive things – we saw the players fighting to give their best.”
Although Pochettino’s team has had little trouble creating chances, they have only scored five league goals so far, trailing only Manchester United, Tottenham, and Arsenal in predicted goals this season with 11.61.
With 10 staff members moving to Stamford Bridge for over £200 million, Chelsea and Brighton have interacted with each other a lot in the past year, so the game had an added edge.
In the 50th minute, Jackson scored the game-winning goal to secure a home match against Blackburn in the week beginning October 30.
Cole Palmer, who did a great job on his first start, received the ball from Ian Maatsen and passed it through Jan Paul van Hecke’s knees for Jackson to sweep into the bottom corner.
The fact that Chelsea finally scored after four games gave them a much-needed boost as Pochettino tries to turn his endeavor around.
When Solly March was left unmarked late in the second half, he had the opportunity to draw Brighton even, but his header was direct at former Seagulls goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
Three former Brighton players were in Chelsea’s starting lineup, and when they touched the ball early in the game, their former fans booed them.
When Kaoru Mitoma skipped past Marc Cucurella and attempted to cross the ball, Sanchez blocked his attempt.
The Spanish goalkeeper, who cost £25 million to go from Brighton, had a challenging evening with the ball in play.
To the delight of the Brighton supporters, Sanchez repeatedly kicked the ball out of play.
A poor ball that found Joao Pedro on the edge of his own penalty area also resulted in the Brazilian striker’s chip over the crossbar.
Bart Verbruggen of Brighton stopped Jackson from scoring a second goal, and an attempt in the 71st minute was disallowed for offside.
As the visitors searched for an equalizer that didn’t materialize, March tested Sanchez before Joao Pedro volleyed over from inside the area.
