Chelsea 0-0 Brighton – Premier League: Blues blow chance to move up to third

The game was drawn and the little people won. That’s the little people who took their banners onto the streets and that’s the little people of Brighton who were meant to be making up the numbers in this division. Sure, they only got a point but what about the one they made?

They aren’t one of the super six, Brighton. Goodness no. They received no super invite – of course they didn’t. But how timely to see them expose the ludicrousness of that whole sorry concept. A concept that is now, with any luck, falling to the bottom of bins in three countries.

If mighty Chelsea cannot beat Brighton then what, you wonder, was all the fuss about? Just how super could they be, that super club who felt emboldened to pull up the super rope ladder to their super tree house? 

Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic reacts as his side laboured to a draw against Brighton & Hove Albion

What a lovely evening for those questions, and for a smaller club to demonstrate why football’s meritocracy, for all its flaws, is better than what a few cash-blind thieves chose as its replacement. A pretty dull game, yes, and barely a whiff of a good chance, but what a delightfully seismic occasion.

Oh, to understand Roman Abramovich. To understand Chelsea. To understand any of football’s weasels and their ways right now. To understand their compulsion to get away from the un-super teams like Brighton, with their un-super dreams and their grubby, grabby hands. A team like Brighton who were in League One 10 years ago. And League Two if you go back 20. Division four, in old money, when it would seem new cash is the only kind worth counting now.

But cash didn’t have the best chance here; Danny Welbeck did.

So, maybe there has been a bit of learning in all of this for Chelsea, with their as-yet-unannounced decision to pull the plug on Super League involvement. Or maybe their forthcoming U-turn was little more than a reading of the wind and a reaction to an almighty PR catastrophe. 

Blues struggled in attack but Kai Havertz forced a good first half save from Robert Sanchez

Blues boss Thomas Tuchel consoles his players following the goalless draw at Stamford Bridge

But whatever, and thank goodness the mess appears to be on its way to being cleaned up after a wonderfully strange day. Which takes us to the ‘legacy fans’, those other figures in this great play. Fans whose opinions received such scant regard in the planning of this heist.

They had been hanging around Stamford Bridge all day. But it was from 5pm onwards when the bigger numbers rocked up, dozens becoming hundreds. Folk have indicated the decision to pull out was taken before the yelling started, and that some players had explained their concerns to the chairman Bruce Buck in the morning, but plainly the supporters played a part.

One banner implored: ‘Roman, do the right thing’. Another read: ‘CFC RIP 1905-2021’. A chant took hold near them and went directly after the muppet at Real Madrid who was behind so much of this nonsense: ‘Florentino Perez is a c***’. They liked that one and so they sang it a few times. A good jury would struggle to find against them.

When the Chelsea team bus rocked up, there was no way through. By then the numbers were in excess of 1,000 and Petr Cech was dispatched for the hearts and minds operation. But not even he could save this particular face – one guy called him a ‘traitor’.

The mood was getting quite frenzied. But then something started in that way things happen in the social media age – a trickle, a whisper, a rapid spread. The roar was really quite immense when it dawned that the breakaway was breaking up, and Chelsea were said to be coming out of the bank with their hands up. 

Ben White reacts after being booked by Stuart Atwell during the second half

White was booked again in stoppage time, leading to his red card as he heads down the tunnel

Inside, Graham Potter summed it up quite well in his pre-match interview. ‘Sometimes a fan can be thought of as a consumer and we are in danger if that is the case. Credit to the fans.’ Credit indeed.

At some point in all this, a game broke out. Kai Havertz had an early shot saved and Brighton mostly looked tight – not much else to say on that first half. Not much else to say on the second, either, except that Danny Welbeck hit a post, and Chelsea lost ground in a race for the top four that suddenly has more importance than it did 24 hours earlier.

Thomas Tuchel has not been one to bite the hand in this saga, so his comments lacked punch. ‘This is the most competitive league in the world and also because the owners built such strong teams, don’t forget it,’ he said. ‘I would like to hear the real detail behind it. I can only repeat that I am not the right person to talk about it.’

For now, his eyes are mainly on a table that his bosses didn’t seem so fussed about just a day ago. It would be awfully generous to forget that fact in a hurry. 

Chelsea fans protested before kick-off about their club’s plans to enter a Super League

Protests turned to celebrations as notions of the Super League appeared to start collapsing

RE-LIVE ALL THE ACTION AS IT HAPPENED… 

Chelsea are in action for the first time since announcing controversial plans to join a European Super League as they take on Brighton at Stamford Bridge.

With the backdrop of Blues fans protesting against the ESL, their players will have eyes on moving into third in the Premier League table when they take on the south coast side who are looking to pull away from a relegation battle.

Follow Sportsmail’s DAN RIPLEY for live EPL coverage of Chelsea vs Brighton, including scoreline, lineups and build-up.