Chelsea overpower Brighton as two Nigerians score in Belgium

By Nurudeen Obalola

Big spenders Chelsea got their Premier League season off to a winning start on Monday night with a 3-1 win over hosts Brighton at the Amex Stadium.

With an outlay of over £200m already during this transfer window, Chelsea are under pressure to consistently perform and win. And win they did on their opening night through goals from Jorginho, Reece James and Kurt Zouma.

New striker Timo Werner played a part in Chelsea’s first goal as he was brought down in the Brighton box for Italy midfielder Jorginho to score from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute.

Brighton continued their impressive passing game even after going behind and they got their reward when Leandro Tossard equalised from range nine minutes into the second half.

Chelsea’s superior quality however told in the end, with James’s scorcher from way out (56th minute) and Zouma’s volley off a corner kick (66th minute) sealing the points for Frank Lampard’s men.

The win took Chelsea to third place in the table behind Arsenal, who beat Fulham 3-0 on Saturday, and Leicester City who defeated West Brom by the same scoreline on Sunday. Wolves, who beat Sheffield United 2-0 away from home earlier on Monday, are joint-fourth.

In Belgium, Nigerian strikers Paul Onuachu and Cyril Dessers were on target for Genk in the Belgian Pro League although their side still lost 5-2 at Beerschot.

Both Onuachu and Dessers, the top scorer in the Dutch top flight last season who joined Genk recently, scored from the penalty spot.