Adam Lallana discusses ‘strange match' against former manager and current Chelsea boss Graham Potter

Potter left the south coast to become Chelsea head coach in September and returned to the Amex Stadium for the first time since leaving the Albion this weekend.

It was not a happy return for the 47-year-old as The Seagulls dismantled Chelsea 4-1 to hand Potter his first loss as Blues manager, in his tenth game in charge of the West London outfit.

Lallana, who was signed by Potter in 2020, told the Brighton and Hove Albion website that the Seagulls squad still had a ‘strong relationship’ with their ex-boss.

The midfielder said: “It was a bit of a strange match. We’ve all still got really strong relationships with Graham [Potter]. They’ve done such a great job since they’ve gone to Chelsea – they were unbeaten in nine games.

"It was always going to be tough for them going back to their old club - I’ve had to do it myself, it’s hard, it’s emotional and different.”

The win was the first for Brighton under Potter’s successor Roberto De Zerbi, with the club going five games without a victory since employing the Italian.

When De Zerbi took over, Albion were fourth in the Premier League, having won four of the first league games under Potter, before he left and replaced the sacked Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge.

Despite the poor run of form, Lallana believes Albion had deserved more since De Zerbi had arrived at the club and was pleased with Saturday's result.

He said: “It must have been tough for the boss coming from Italy and taking over a team that’s been doing so well, picking up points and wins and sitting fourth in the league.

“I am pleased for him that we got the three points because we have deserved more over the course of the last three or four weeks and not had the luck. I don’t think we’ve believed as much [in ourselves] as we could have done in the last few weeks and there has been a little bit of a lack of confidence which can happen in football, so it meant a lot to get three points.”

Albion achieved the win despite missing regular first-team players Danny Welbeck and Joel Veltman, who were not named in the matchday squad, with a first league start handed to talented winger Kaoru Mitoma.

Despite both teams having a number of clear-cut chances in the first half, Brighton raced into a 3-0 lead thanks to Leonardo Trossard’s sixth goal in as many games, and two own goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah.

Kai Havertz pulled one back for Chelsea early at the start of the second half, heading in from a delicious Conor Gallagher cross, before Pascal Gross secured all three points for the Albion in stoppage time.

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Reflecting on the game, Lallana said to the Albion website: “It was meant to be for us today. We went five without a win, but it felt like we wanted it a bit more and we had that bit of luck.

"They had chances in the first half so it could have been different. It was an entertaining game for the neutral I am sure, but we will enjoy this.”

“It was interesting that there was no out-and-out No. 9 on the pitch from the start, both head coaches have got their ideas of how they want to play and when the team-sheets came in I thought that was fascinating and a bit of a talking point.

"We were unfortunate to miss Welbz, but every player stepped up and put in a good performance. We needed it.”

Brighton are now eighth in the league table and travel to Wolves this Saturday, before facing league leaders Arsenal in the EFL Cup third round on Tuesday, November 8.