Premier League: Webster earns draw against Chelsea - News Today

London: Chelsea were dealt a major blow to their Premier League title hopes as Adam Webster’s second-half header earned Brighton and Hove Albion a 1-1 draw at the Amex Stadium on Tuesday.

Brighton started the strongest but fell behind after 28 minutes through Hakim Ziyech’s low shot from the edge of the box. But the hosts grabbed a deserved equaliser on the hour mark when Webster met a corner by Alexis Mac Allister, who had moments earlier been denied by a full-stretch Kepa Arrizabalaga save.

Both sides went in search of a winner but substitute Neal Maupay was unable to turn in Tariq Lamptey’s cross before Romelu Lukaku had a shot saved by Robert Sanchez. Chelsea stay in third place on 44 points, one point behind Liverpool and 12 adrift of Manchester City having played a match more than the leaders. Brighton extend their unbeaten run to five matches and are ninth with 29 points.

Meanwhile, Antonio Conte says the Premier League has become distorted by the postponement of so many matches, describing the competition as a big mess. The Tottenham manager is unhappy at what he sees as inconsistencies over which games are called off and he remains perplexed as to why Sunday’s home derby against Arsenal had to be rearranged.

Arsenal were in the midst of a selection crisis but only a small number of their absentees were because of positive Covid tests. Conte will surely be frustrated to learn that Arsenal appear ready to play on Thursday at home to Liverpool in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.

Conte made the point that Burnley had played only 17 league fixtures whereas others had played significantly more; Chelsea completed their 23rd at Brighton on Tuesday night while Manchester City and West Ham have played 22.

What has annoyed Conte in particular is how the league refused Spurs’s request to postpone their match at Leicester on 16 December as they contended with a high number of Covid cases that had led to them losing two games – the Europa Conference League final group phase tie against Rennes and the league match at Brighton. Spurs had already had their game at Burnley snowed off.

But the league were happy to accept Arsenal’s move for a postponement on Sunday, mainly because of the club’s injuries and their having players at the Africa Cup of Nations.

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