Brighton & Hove Albion ended up being the biggest over-performers in the Premier League last season – even though they did not have it easy. That’s because the Seagulls became a hunting ground for Chelsea – who started to take away several key members from their unit.
The first to go was Marc Cucurella in the summer window. After that followed manager Graham Potter alongside his entire coaching staff, as well as those at the management level too. But the Seagull’s exquisite planning and management style allowed them to bounce back strongly after losing Potter.
They appointed manager Roberto de Zerbi in November and thus sparked the beginning of a special period until the end of the campaign. De Zerbi was able to incur a strong squad from Potter and elevate their quality with his smart tactics and attack-minded style.
The Italian manager was able to help Brighton maintain their charge after an impressive start to the season and stay afloat in the top half of the season. Ultimately, the Seagulls secured a finish in the top-7 and in doing so, they qualified for the UEFA Europa League for the first time in their history.
Their impressive campaign must’ve felt even better considering how Chelsea tried to ransack them earlier in the season, only for them to finish five places above the Blues come the end. There is a sense of tension brimming in the underbelly between these two teams, with the Seagulls and their supporters quite annoyed with how Chelsea tries taking all their players or coaches away from them.
Brighton also seems to be proud of the fact that they finished over the London giants and inadvertently ‘ruined’ their season too. Recently, the Seagulls started a poll on their Twitter account where they asked their fans to name their Favorite moment, favourite away game and favourite home game of the 2022/23 season.
🥇 Favourite moment of 22/23? 🤔 🥇 Favourite away game of 22/23? 🤔 🥇 Favourite home game of 22/23? 🤔
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) June 2, 2023
A majority of fans voted for Chelsea in the favourite away and home games, which could be because of the Seagulls being able to pull off the league double over them. The Brighton Twitter admin ended up using this to take a subtle dig at the London club, claiming that the ‘Chelsea, Chelsea’ words used for the final two poll questions sounded like Chelsea’s ‘only chant’.
This was a clear dig at the popular chant that is often sung by Chelsea supporters during their home matches. The chant is as simple and monotonous as they come, as the fans just keep blaring the word ‘Chelsea’ over and over again in an attempt to motivate their players.
Final two answers sounding like their only chant 😅
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) June 2, 2023
Chelsea fans have often been mocked for this chant, which is just way too simplistic and does not have any creativity to it at all. Normally, football fans have shown the tendency to come up with various innovative chants that use tunes from popular songs.
This Chelsea chant, on the other hand, is hardly inspiring – which is probably why the Brighton Twitter account has called it out. Even though this cheeky dig at Chelsea has been found hilarious by a lot of fans, the Chelsea faithful aren’t quite as impressed by it.
Despite seeing their team endure one of their worst seasons in Premier League history, there is at least some pride within the match-going fans on how they did themselves proud by supporting the team strongly through their poor campaign and maintaining an impressive atmosphere with their vocal support.
So it’s not surprising that the Blues’ supporters find this dig to be offensive, especially knowing their current frustration at Brighton for having sold them individuals who failed to deliver. A lot of Chelsea fans have hit out at the Seagulls for this gesture and have hit them out for still being a ‘small team’ who aren’t anywhere near them in terms of having won major trophies.
— CarefreeLewisG🇪🇹📸 (@CarefreeLewisG) June 2, 2023
Some have even questioned if Brighton fans themselves have any innovative chants to boast about and even wish relegation on the Seagulls once De Zerbi leaves them. There seems to be a lot of bitterness among the Chelsea faithful towards Brighton, which has hit a brimming point with this cheeky dig.
After everything that transpired last season, the games between Chelsea and Brighton could be considered as unofficial rivalry matches next season and their clashes could be particularly intense both on and off the pitch.
