Chelsea’s FA Cup journey came to an end in the fourth round as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of newly established rivals Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday evening.

Bart Verbruggen spilled Cole Palmer’s cross into the back of his net inside the first five minutes, but an excellent header from Georginio Rutter soon provided Brighton with the equaliser their first-half performance undoubtedly merited.

Kaoru Mitoma lobbed Brighton into the lead early in the second half, and from that point, Chelsea never looked like getting back into the game. A handful of half-sights of goal all led to nothing as the Blues watched their final chance of domestic silverware fade away without any real fight.

For Brighton, it was the perfect response to the 7-0 thumping at the hands of Nottingham Forest, with Fabian Hurzeler’s booking their place in the fifth round with relative ease.

*Ratings provided by FotMob*

Subs not used: Thomas McGill (GK), Eiran Cashin, Brajan Gruda, Simon Adingra

*Ratings provided by FotMob*

Subs not used: Filip Jorgensen (GK), Aaron Anselmino, Ishe Samuels-Smith, Josh Acheampong, Levi Colwill, Mathis Amougou