The Seagulls utterly dominated Tuesday's game at the American Express Stadium and, in truth, it was always a matter of how many they would win by after they broke the deadlock in the third minute.

After ex-Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez tipped Kaoru Mitoma's volley over, the resulting corner flicked off Jorrel Hato and landed at the feet of Ferdi Kadioglu, whose first-time strike deflected in off Wesley Fofana.

Sanchez was bailed out by Trevoh Chalobah's goal-line clearance after a terrible pass out from the back allowed Carlos Baleba to tee up Jack Hinshelwood in front of a gaping goal.

But Hinshelwood would get on the scoresheet in the 56th minute, staying onside to collect Georginio Rutter's pass before slotting past Sanchez at his near post.

Chelsea had shown a brief improvement after Rosenior ditched his 3-4-3 experiment at half-time, but they were out of the contest at 2-0 as Brighton hunted more goals, with Mitoma and Kadioglu both going close.

And Brighton did add further gloss to the scoreline in the first minute of second-half stoppage time, as Maxim De Cuyper's centre was stroked home by substitute Danny Welbeck.

Chelsea's hopes of Champions League qualification are now surely over, given they trail fifth-placed Liverpool by seven points with just 12 left to play for.

Brighton, by contrast, might feel they have an outside chance of reaching Europe's premier club competition, having jumped to sixth, one place and two points above the Blues.