Olivier Giroud, Eden Hazard and Ruben Loftus-Cheek score at Stamford Bridge
Wednesday 3 April 2019 22:57, UK
Chris Hughton admits Brighton have put themselves in a "tough" position as they battle to avoid relegation from the Premier League.
Brighton lost 3-0 at Chelsea on Wednesday to stay five points above the bottom three with seven games of the season left to play.
Hughton says their previous result, a 1-0 home defeat to relegation rivals Southampton, has put them in a tricky spot.
"It's tough, as I expected," he said. "Everybody is fighting. We did ourselves no favours by not getting any type of result against Southampton. That makes it tougher for us.
"It was always in our hands and that's the way you prefer it. You don't want to rely on other results. We have games that we need to pick up points."
Brighton rarely threatened against Chelsea and never looked like getting back into the game after Olivier Giroud opened the scoring after 38 minutes.
"The first goal was disappointing because it set them on their way and from our point of view it was avoidable," said Hughton.
"Up until then they threatened a lot but didn't have a clear chance. We defended well, which we knew we had to, broke when we could, and coming in at half-time at 0-0 would have given us a real lift as opposed to giving them a lift.
"It was a hard game for us but nothing short of what we expected. We were very much in the game, in terms of defending well and making it difficult for them.
"It's very difficult to come here and be any other way, then try to make sure you are disciplined and keep good shape and when you get your moments try to make the most of them."
