'He was a blocker' - Graham Potter explains why Neal Maupay and not 6ft 7in Dan Burn wrestled Romelu Lukaku on corners

Brighton fell behind to a powerful header from Romelu Lukaku but secured a point when substitute Danny Welbeck rose above the home defence and planted a header beyond Edouard Mendy in the 91st minute.

A point was just reward for an injury and covid-hit Brighton who played with physicality and skill against Thomas Tuchel's second placed team, also struggling with injuries and fatigue.

Marc Cucurella, Tariq Lamptey, Yves Bissouma, Alexis Mac Allister all performed to their absolute maximum while few coaches of the 'smaller clubs' have the bravery and tactical nous to take it to the footballing elite quite like Potter did.

Brighton fans should enjoy Potter-ball while they can, as some of Brighton's recent displays against the top teams would have made many a chairman put a tick alongside Potter's name.

There was one oddity however that baffled some observers and that was why 5ft 6in Neal Maupay was marking 6ft 4in powerhouse Lukaku on corners when Albion had their own 6ft 7in giant Dan Burn on the pitch?

On 28 minutes Mason Mount whipped a corner into the box and Maupay gamely tried to wrestle with Lukaku but was swotted away like a heavyweight boxer despatching a welterweight.

Lukaku did use an elbow during their brief tangle but his goal was allowed to stand and Maupay eventually regained his senses, rose to his feet shaking his head and had a cut on the bridge of his nose to show for troubles.

"That was just where Neal ended up, he was one of our blockers," said Potter. "It's obviously not easy to stop Lukaku, there's a lot of physicality there.

"We defended quite well generally but he got away from us just that one time. It was one of those things really. You leave it to the referee and VAR and you just have to accept it.

"They are going to have moments because of the quality they have but aside from the set play there was not too much that troubled us in the first half.

"We had a few opportunities ourselves but I can't speak highly enough of the boys. An incredible brave performance against a top team."

Brighton's display was all the more impressive as they were missing their entire first choice defence with Lewis Dunk, Shane Duffy and Adam Webster all missing.

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel was fuming with the result and spent most his post match interviews, blaming the schedule, injuries, unavailability and suspect penalty calls.

"A draw about right? Absolutely not," said the German. "We had the better chances and a clear penalty. Very disappointing.

"We are struggling but we have again two injured players. If the ref does not want to give us a penalty when it is a clear 100% penalty... The circumstances are against us. It's a 100% penalty.

"Our players are injured. I told you what would happen weeks ago. Same thoughts, I told you. Sure we are tired, if you had been in bed for 10 days and played Premier League matches after that, you would be tired."

Brighton goal hero Welbeck, who just returned from alengthy lay-off following hamstring surgery, said, "It's a well deserved point. It was a good technical performance as well as a physical one.

"To get a point here is big for us. I was outside warming up at half time so I don't now what the manager said at half-time.

"But we created a lot of chances and we're happy to come away with a point."