In the fullness of time Chelsea’s surrender against Brighton & Hove Albion last April may come to be seen as the turning point. The humiliation accelerated Liam Rosenior’s demise and forced the Stamford Bridge hierarchy into a reckoning which has led to the appointment of Xabi Alonso, a shift in the transfer strategy, the JP Morgan front three and the end of Robert Sánchez’s time as the No 1 goalkeeper.
Related: Chelsea hold off Brighton in 4-3 win but remain chaotic under Xabi Alonso
At the final whistle Álvaro Arbeloa provided a study in pensiveness while Régis Le Bris simply looked relieved.
An almost palpable fear of losing formed the subtext of a match decided when two of the Sunderland manager’s second-half substitutes, Habib Diarra and Wilson Isidor, combined for the latter to score.
Related: Sunderland’s Wilson Isidor applies the finishing touch to sink Fulham
Leeds United and Brentford continued their unbeaten starts to the Premier League season with a draw that had enough moments to suggest both can be optimistic about what lies ahead.
Related: Calvert-Lewin cancels out Schade’s opener as Leeds salvage point against Brentford
Joao Pedro and Emi Martinez spoke to Sky:
JP: I think everyone knows his quality, I think, he came to help us. We could see today. Yeah, he’s a special player, special keeper.
EM: Yeah, of course, obviously, speaking of legends, of Chelsea, with JT and Petr, I knew how big this club is and what we want to achieve this season. I came I came here to help. I come here to challenge myself and trying to win the Premier League.
JP: I think the game today was a special game for me. I think I help my teammates, I fight until the end, and, yeah, I get it in points, it’s very important for us. When I’m not scoring, Cole will be there, or Morgan, so, I think we need to enjoy, and, yeah, hopefully in the end, it can, we can achieve a high, high level.
Where does that leave the embryonic Premier League table?
Actually, they can’t. Gross’s goal was the last kick of a relentless game where defending took a back seat. Chelsea were great going forward, and so were an injury-hit Brighton. Feels like it’s been a while since Chelsea were so much fun to watch but they kick off the season with two wins.
Brentford were brilliant in the first half, and Kevin Schade’s goal was a beauty. As is Leeds’ way, they stuck at it, and Calvert-Lewin’s goal was their reward for that persistence.
Harry Wilson is fouled by Nathan Collins as a loose ball is chased. A yellow card for Collins and a free-kick in a dangerous position for Leeds. Stach whips it, and that’s that.
Wilson Isidor’s goal won it for the Black Cats, a game where they held Fulham at bay. Fulham have lost both games this season and will rue a lack of cutting edge. Sunderland recover from that loss to Ipswich last week and land a home win at first time of asking.
Brentford making a series of subs, including Callum Wilson coming on to partner Thiago. There was some confusion over the numbers, with Rico Henry another arrival. Both teams making plenty of lunging tackles. There’s real fatigue out there.
Into the closing moments here, and Sunderland remain in front, and are defending deep against an opponent yet to have a shot on target all afternoon. They have had 59% of possession. Though, mind, Brighton had 73% of possession at Chelsea and look where that got them. Four minutes added on at the Stadium of Light.
The change in weather conditions – see the pics from the Leeds Festival – have allowed Daniel Farke to resume wearing his signature black raincoat. His team look the likelier here. Brentford paying for all that first-half effort, and their lack of profit from it.
Lukas Nmecha was the player whose drilling of the ball was knocked in by Calvert-Lewin. At the other end, Igor Thiago drifts a header in but Brentford will not retake the lead with that.
Goal! Leeds 1-1 Brentford (Calvert-Lewin, 79)
It was coming, and it came from short range….was Nathan Collins playing the striker onside? So it seems. Goal given.
This season’s entertainers would appear to be Chelsea. Though Brighton are having a good go, too. Kadioglu volleys wide. Chelsea still giving up plenty of chances though so full of firepower.
Breathing space secured in some style, as Palmer comes in from the right, blazing past Wieffer, and lashing home with his left foot. A fine goal, and a sigh of relief.
Having missed a golden chance, Isidor kept his cool to score, with Fulham’s high line breached, a fine cross from Habib Diarra. Those subs from Regis Le Bris pay huge dividends.
Brighton fancy this. Boscagli forces a low save from Martinez though Dunk is booked for fouling Joao Pedro when the striker was making his escape.
Justin forces a save from Kelleher as Leeds look for a way back when they might already have lost the game. Brentford have a habit of failing to kill off their opponents.
Diego Gomez went close almost immediately after that own-goal. Chelsea suddenly looking something of a rabble, and changes are made, including the arrival of Moises Caicedo and Reece James.
Goal! Chelsea 3-2 Brighton (Joao Pedro OG, 62)
Oops, Joao Pedro kisses the hand that used to feed him, deflecting in the ball past Martinez after Yalcouye’s pass to Pascal Gross.
Isidor and Diarra on for Sunderland as Angulo and Brobbey come off. The two departures have struggled to get into the game.
Harry Wilson on the burst, in the territory from where he scored those spectacular goals for Fulham but he decides to play in Jayden Bogle, and it doesn’t come to much.
Ooof! Diego Gomez should have scored. What a ball that was from Boscagli, and what a miss that was. Gomez has an eye for a goal, and miss, too. At the other end, both Neto and Cole Palmer go close for Chelsea.
Good noise at the Stadium of Light, and applause for Mukiele’s tackle, when Gonzalo Garcia is robbed, just when Josh King’s ball had sent the striker clean away. Palacios smashes over but Fulham look better.
Leeds making a better fist of it with that strengthened midfield? So it seems. They win a first corner, and then a second.
Brighton begin the half with possession. Chelsea are full of counterattacking speed, as you might expect from a Xabi Alonso team. At the Bridge, the officials have lost their electronic communications and are having to employ the analogue techniques of hand signals and shouting.
Daniel Farke has made two changes, and really needed to. Harry Wilson and Ao Tanaka replace Brenden Aaronson and Jaka Bijol, in the aim of adding attacking zest and added numbers in midfield.
More on that important win for the new Rangers regime.
Related: Scottish Premiership: Shankland on the spot to ease pressure on McInnes and Rangers
Brentford have continued their brilliant start to the season and might be more than a single goal up, though what a goal it was from Kevin Schade. His was a superb improvised finish.
The attacking from Chelsea has been red-hot, and after Romeo Lavia scored early they settled into a groove that Brighton struggled with. Xabi Alonso’s first home has got off to a good start.
By far the quieter of today’s matches, though one where the home team will feel they could have made more of their command of the balance of play.
A Gross cross comes in and Gomez can only head over. Brighton, with so many players out, are not done here. Chelsea’s defence needs some work; what will the window bring?
The home team have dominated without creating too much while Fulham’s mavericks have not seen nearly enough of the ball.
That’s the goal they deserved. Lewis-Potter’s cross comes in, and Schade’s finish is a beauty, with the outside of his boot and in.
Eric Pietersen gets in touch: “I wonder how much of the quick pace that’s caught your eye is teams realizing what a waste of time possession becomes if your opponent has time to set up their low block.
“If you’re reduced to passes around the block’s perimeter, with hopeful crosses into a crowded box and threading the needle to a cutter your only positive attacking options, possession becomes its own liability.
I see teams dawdling on the ball less and less once they get it, and I think it’s great. To paraphrase the beloved Kevin Keegan, if all teams treat possession as the fragile commodity with a very short useful shelf life that it seems to be in the modern day, I will love it. Love it.”
Goal! Chelsea 3-1 Brighton (Yalcouyé, 39)
Brighton back in it? A sweet volley from the debutant, and there will be no clean sheet for Martinez. That’s a stretch of 18 matches without.
Joe Rodon has left the field, injured, and to applause. On comes the new signing, Nico Elvedi, signed after 11 years at Borussia Monchengladbach.
Goal! Chelsea 3-0 Brighton (Joao Pedro, 34)
Chelsea rampant. Another former Brighton player gets the goal this time. Hato goes down the left, and lays the ball into the path of Joao Pedro, who slots with ease.
Malick Yalcouyé, the Brighton youngster, has a whiff of a chance. Chelsea haven’t kept a clean sheet for some time. It’s a young attack, with Kostoulas at centre-forward. Danny Welbeck is warming up…as a Chelsea player.
Both Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali were pictured at the Bridge, but not sat together. This has been a bright start to the season, despite all the ructions behind the scenes.
Related: Todd Boehly and Mark Walter consider selling Chelsea shares to Clearlake Capital
All the set pieces that matter. Michael Kayode wins a free kick when pulled over by Jayden Bogle. Damsgaard’s free-kick comes out for Sangare to shoot but his shot is blocked, and Kayode fires wide. Brentford the better team at Elland Road by far.
It’s a very even contest up in the north east. The new Fulham are similar to the old Fulham though Alvaro Arbeloa likes to play an even more open style than Marco Silva. They have a free kick after Ballard fouls Castagne. Alex Iwobi takes but Palacios, one of the new players from Real Madrid, handballs. The free-kick was dreadful, frankly.
Up in the Stamford Bridge stands, Thomas Tuchel is sat with Carlo Ancelotti, and they are watching Chelsea turn it on. Morgan Rogers carves down the left, and his ball inside is converted by Pedro Neto.
Granit Xhaka, who chose to stay on Wearside rather than join Chelsea, has been running the show in midfield.
James Trafford, the world’s most expensive keeper by collective transfer fees, is asked to make a save from Igor Thiago and then from Keane Lewis-Potter.
A corner to Brighton, taken by Pascal Gross and Emi Martinez climbs high to palm away.
A set-piece goal, and one that Austin McPhee enjoyed, though it owed a fair bit to a flap from Bart Verbruggen.
The forgotten man stabs in from close range after the ball drops to him after a melee in the Brighton box. He really enjoyed that goal.
Brentford have started this season so brightly, while Leeds are chasing everything. The Premier League so far, in its early stages, seems to be played quicker than ever.
Brighton start brightly. Chelsea have Malo Gusto in midfield, with Reece James stepping out with those continuing worries over his fitness.
Sunderland v Fulham get away fast, while the other two matches are still at the pre-match huddle stage.
In England , the teams are taking to the field. At Stamford Bridge, they are remembering Ken Bates and Bobby Tambling, the former Chelsea chairman and the legendary striker of the 1960s, both of whom passed away over the summer.
In Scotland, relief for Derek McInnes and Lawrence Shankland , after Rangers win at Aberdeen, with the striker scoring the goal.
Fabian Hurzeler spoke to Sky, as he shuffles his pack after injuries to Jack Hinshelwood and Georginio Rutter: ““I never complain about injuries. I’m a big believer in giving new opportunities to other players, I wouldn’t put them in the squad otherwise.”
The weekend’s Premier League match reports so far.
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Related: Iraola’s Liverpool start slowly again but Muñoz strike denies Nottingham Forest
Related: Hull maintain flying start as Liam Millar’s winner ruins Coventry’s day
Related: James Tarkowski pounces at the death as Everton deny Bournemouth win
Related: Elanga and Wissa strike as Newcastle extend Spurs’ miserable start to season
Mark Slater gets in touch: “I will be following the Chelsea vs Brighton match particulary, but am happy to see a Joy Division quote in the opening paragraphs. In Chelsea’s case, Brighton and Hove Albion, Manchester City, and Aston Villa most recently...”
Tom: “A+++ for getting Joy Division into the Sunday MBM.”
Emi Martinez had this to say on his move: “‘I’m delighted to be at this football club. Coming to Chelsea, for me and my family, was an easy decision to make and I’m just over the moon - I can’t wait to get started.
‘I want to be successful here. I’m someone who wants to win at everything I do and I want to bring that here to this football club because it’s a football club that wins titles, so I think it’s a good match.”
Chelsea : Martinez, Wesley Fofana, Lacroix, Colwill, Gusto, Palmer, Lavia, Hato, Pedro Neto, Rogers, Joao Pedro. Subs: Bynoe-Gittens, Welbeck, James, Caicedo, Chavarria, Acheampong, Estevao, Penders, Barco.
Brighton: Verbruggen, Wieffer, Vuskovic, Dunk, Boscagli, Gross, Kadioglu, Gomez, Yalcouye, De Cuyper, Kostoulas. Subs: Steele, Struijk, Hadjam, David, Osman, Costinha, Cozier-Duberry, O’Riley, Oriola.
Leeds United: Trafford, Bogle, Justin, Muharemovic, Rodon, Bijol, Ampadu, Stach, Okafor, Aaronson, Calvert-Lewin. Subs: Cairns, Gudmundsson, Elvedi, Longstaff, Tanaka, Gnoto, James, Wilson, Nmecha
Brentford: Kelleher; Kayode, Ajer, Collins, Lewis-Potter; Sangare, Janelt, Damsgaard, Anthony, Thiago Schade. Subs: Valdimarsson, Schuster, Hickey, Henry, Yarmoliuk, Ouattara, Wilson, Carvalho, Diouf
Sunderland: Roefs, Mandava, Mukiele, Ballard, Meunier, Xhaka, Sadiki, Angulo, Le Fee, Hume, Brobbey. Subs: Ellborg, Alderete, O’Nien, Diarra, Mundle, Rigg, Talbi, Isidor, Ahoka.
Fulham: Leno, Robinson, Andersen, Bassey, Castagne, Iwobi, Berge, Palacios, King, Bobb, Garcia. Subs: Lecomte, Cuenca, Reed, Zepa, Sessegnon, Smith Rowe, Charles, Kevin, Muniz.
The word is that Emi Martinez will start for Chelsea. Full team news to follow soon…
Chelsea have a new goalkeeper. Where will Robert Sanchez end up? He was, as is customary for Chelsea, previously at Brighton.
Related: Emiliano Martínez finally gets his Villa exit with £7.5m move to Chelsea
On a similar tip, Andrew Beesley has run the numbers.
Vítor Pereira, Graham Potter and Thomas Frank became managers of Wolves, West Ham and Tottenham respectively in 2025, started last season in those roles and yet were removed by mid-February of this year at the latest. Across the preceding decade, 25 men who started a season as a new manager, appointed in that year, did not see out the season in question.
Related: Managerial turnover means we need new ways to predict Premier League fixtures
Here are the young men , the weight on their shoulders. Regis Le Bris is the oldest manager on duty for the 2pm kick-offs.
It turns out it is true. Managers used to be ashen-faced men with nicotine-grey hair dressed in the sports jackets of grim experience. They spoke with a rasping melancholy of the depths of human fallibility and of fates that were not to be trusted. Now they’re trim, sprightly figures in T-shirts, convinced that analytics can explain the world.
Related: No country for old men: Premier League grind is why managers are getting younger
Three matches in the 2pm Super Sunday slot, and plenty to go at. Chelsea take on Brighton , the club they keep taking personnel from, who smashed Aston Villa last week. Brentford , who smashed Tottenham last week, travel to Leeds , who beat Nottingham Forest not once in the opening week of the season. Sunderland , whose fans are getting very excited about their European tour, take on the new-look Fulham .
Related: Chelsea hold off Brighton in 4-3 win but remain chaotic under Xabi Alonso
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · John Brewin. Published 30 Aug 2026, 03:18 pm.
