Cole Palmer became the first player in Premier League history to score four first-half goals - only for Chelsea’s defensive skittishness to ensure no chance of rest.
The England star cashed in on Brighton’s spectacular naivety off the ball with two counterattacks, a penalty and spectacular long-range free kick in the space of 20 minutes.
And he was also denied by the upright and a tight offside call as both Enzo Maresca and Fabian Hurzeler watched their teams abandon all sense of defensive responsibility in favour of all out attack.
The away side’s approach was encapsulated by a moment nearing the interval when all 10 outfield players were in the final third, searching for another goal.
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Brave and daring but also a recipe for disaster when the centre-backs are Lewis Dunk and Byron Webster and Chelsea’s front four are blessed with devastating pace.
Then again Albion’s high press reaped some rewards - including an opening goal that briefly tasted like sweet revenge. All three former Brighton players - booed ferociously throughout by the visiting support - were at varying degrees of fault as Georginio Rutter headed home.
It began with Moises Caicedo playing a needless pass back to Levi Colwill, who smacked his clearance off Carlos Baleba. That sent the ball spinning into the air and prompted hapless goalkeeper Robert Sanchez and Marc Cucurella to both rush naively forward. Sanchez’s commitment appeared particularly daft as Rutter rose high to nod into the empty net.
Yet Chelsea’s attacking quartet were soon in their groove, capitalising on an Albion defensive line that rarely started deeper than halfway. Palmer saw his first chance strike the post and a second attempt was swiftly scrapped after straying marginally offside before finding the net. But Chelsea had pinpointed a weakness to exploit and Brighton remained married to their game plan.
Palmer’s first came when Nicolas Jackson broke through and instead of taking on Bart Verbruggen played he offered a calm pass for Palmer to finish.
Jadon Sancho, again impressive, had a goal ruled out for offside three minutes later before the winger was taken down by Lewis Dunk after a mazy dribble in from the left. Palmer hammered the penalty into the bottom left corner.
His best was up next, however. Noni Madueke was shamelessly dragged down by Pervis Estupinan 30 yards out, allowing Palmer to swing a sumptuous effort into the top right corner. Verbruggen got a finger tip to the effort but he was powerless to keep it out.
Game over? No chance with Sanchez part of a defence determined to play the short game. On this occasion the Chelsea goalkeeper mis-hit another simple pass in the direction of Caicedo. And Baleba was on to the mistake like a flash to make it 4-2.
Palmer, Jackson and Madueke spurned several good chances to put the result beyond doubt early in the second half, while Cucurella had a goal cancelled for offside. Brighton, for their part, kept pressing only to find Chelsea’s defence to be less charitable after the damage of a chaotic opening 45 minutes.
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