Brighton 4 Chelsea 1
Graham Potter refused to chuck Chelsea’s players “under the bus” as he took responsibility for a humiliating 4-1 Premier League thrashing on his return to former club Brighton.
Blues boss Potter endured mocking taunts of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” from gleeful Seagulls supporters during a chastening afternoon at a raucous Amex Stadium.
Rampant Albion raced into a commanding half-time lead, with own goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah compounding Chelsea’s misery following Leandro Trossard’s early opener.
Kai Havertz pulled a goal back just after the restart but the visitors were unable to prevent a first defeat in 10 games since the sacking of Thomas Tuchel as Pascal Gross rubbed salt into the wound in added time.
“It’s the Premier League, so everywhere is difficult,” said Potter, who is waiting to discover the extent of the foot injury which forced off goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga at the break.
“Brighton are a good side, I know that and with the crowd and the atmosphere they created, they put you under pressure.
“We made a couple of unforced errors to start everything off but that can happen.
“I’m not going to throw the players under the bus at all because they’ve been brilliant for us – they’ve given everything for me.
“I have to take responsibility and try to find a way for us to do better.”
Potter returned to Sussex with six wins and three draws from his first nine fixtures at Stamford Bridge and looking to inflict further punishment on a Seagulls side who began the day with just two points from a possible 15 since his departure.
He received jeers – and a smattering of applause – when he stepped off the team coach, while there were further boos when he emerged from the tunnel.
Brighton fed off their fans’ hostile energy and quickly took control of the contest during a blistering start in which chants of “Potter, what’s the score?” grew louder, followed by playful questioning of his job security.
Despite feeling bitterness from the stands, Potter insisted he had nothing to apologise for following his switch to west London seven weeks ago.
“I didn’t have any expectations,” he said of the reception. “I have nothing to say sorry for, I have nothing to apologise for. I did a good job.
“You can see the team’s a good team. I took over when they were fourth from bottom in the Premier League, probably the third worst team.
“There’s a lot of money been raised in terms of player sales and there are a lot of good players on the pitch.
“I hope for their sake the next managers do as good a job and that’s brilliant for them.”
Bournemouth 2 Tottenham 3
Substitute Rodrigo Bentancur struck deep into stoppage-time to help Tottenham complete their comeback from two goals down at Bournemouth and claim a crucial 3-2 victory.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte had been left furious in midweek after they were denied a late winner against Sporting Lisbon by VAR and saw his decision to rest players ahead of next week’s match in Marseille initially backfire when Kieffer Moore’s double put the Cherries into a two-goal lead.
Ryan Sessegnon started the comeback in the 57th minute before Ben Davies levelled following a corner and another set-piece saw Tottenham end their three-match winless run when Bentancur volleyed home late on.
It keeps the visitors in third spot in the Premier League and lifts spirits ahead of their trip to Marseille, where a point will send them through to the last 16 of the Champions League.
Newcastle 4 Aston Villa 0
Callum Wilson scored twice in front of England boss Gareth Southgate to boost his World Cup hopes as Newcastle romped to a 4-0 victory over Aston Villa.
The striker converted a penalty in first-half stoppage-time and then added a second-half header before Joelinton followed up his shot to make it 3-0.
Miguel Almiron’s sixth goal in as many games wrapped up the scoring on an afternoon when the Magpies were not at their best but were good enough to claim a fifth win in six Premier League games, ultimately in some comfort.
Wilson’s overall contribution as well as his goals will not have gone unnoticed by Southgate, who was joined by Brazil counterpart Tite among a crowd of 52,233 at a rain-soaked St James’ Park, with the World Cup finals in Qatar now just weeks away.
New Villa head coach Unai Emery will take up his post next week with his side having competed well until the penalty, but they wilted alarmingly six days after seemingly getting their season back on track with a 4-0 win over Brentford.
Brentford 1 Wolves 1
Diego Costa was sent off for a headbutt in stoppage-time as Wolves battled to a 1-1 draw at Brentford.
A Ruben Neves cracker had secured a point for Wolves after Ben Mee had given the Bees the lead in west London.
But veteran striker Costa took exception to being marked by Mee in stoppage-time and was shown a straight red card by referee Bobby Madley.
Madley, officiating in the Premier League for the first time since he was sacked more than four years ago for apparently mocking a disabled person, checked his pitchside monitor before giving Costa his marching orders.
It was an explosive end to a match which failed to ignite until the second half.
Crystal Palace 1 Southampton 0
Odsonne Edouard’s first-half goal was enough to hand Crystal Palace a 1-0 victory over Southampton.
The visitors put pressure on the hosts early before the Eagles took control and looked the more dangerous side throughout, the Frenchman finally breaking the deadlock just before the break.
Che Adams returned to Ralph Hasenhüttl’s starting line-up and at times looked to spoil the Eagles’ afternoon, but could only watch his best effort ping off the post.
It was a satisfying third consecutive home win for the hosts, who now will not return to Selhurst Park until St Stephen’s Day.
Fulham 0 Everton 0
Fulham’s in-form striker Aleksandar Mitrovic had an off-day as he missed a host of chances in a 0-0 draw with Everton in the at Craven Cottage.
The Serb had 10 attempts but could not add to his tally of nine goals this season as Everton hung on for a point.
Fulham, who could have moved level on points with local rivals Chelsea had they won, dominated the game but Everton were disciplined as they recorded a first clean sheet of the season.
Marco Silva’s Fulham moved into seventh spot with 19 points while Everton are 12th with 14 points.
