We enjoyed 72 per cent of the possession and completed 85 per cent of our attempted 679 passes. The Blues completed over triple the number of passes that our visitors mustered, but our time on the ball could not be turned into more than the singular goal, despite the statistics underlying our dominance at Stamford Bridge.

First half dominance but no breakthrough

The Blues started Graham Potter’s reign as Chelsea manger brightly in SW6, firing in four shots within the opening 10 minutes of the contest.

The pattern of the match was set out from the first whistle, with Jorginho the deepest of our midfield trio and often picking up the ball from our three centre-backs, with Marc Cucurella slotting in alongside the ever-experienced Cesar Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva.

Despite dominating the ball, the Blues did not manage a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes of Potter’s first match in the dugout.

The pressure eventually paid off

It took just three minutes after the second half whistle for the Blues to not only record our first attempt on Philipp Kohn’s goal but also break the deadlock.

That came through summer singing Raheem Sterling, who scored his first Champions League goal in Chelsea colours with an excellent finish, after good work from Reece James and Mason Mount on the right.

His curling effort meant he reached 250 goals and assists in all competitions at club level (158 goals, 92 assists).

The reaction to conceding to Noah Okafor’s late strike was positive, and such was the consistency with which we pinned RB Salzburg back into their own area, Chelsea forced the visitors into 27 clearances.

As the clock ticked, the Blues had numerous half chances in the dying members of the contest to claim the three points, with Armando Broja notably firing over late on, while Hakim Ziyech managed three shots on target in just 14 minutes on the pitch, after he replaced captain Azpilicueta in search of a winner.

Rapid Raheem deployed at wing-back

There would have been plenty of conversations surrounding Graham Potter’s first Chelsea line-up ahead of kick-off, with the personnel selected not immediately handing itself to a recognised formation.

We had to wait until the game kicked-off for a glimpse at Potter’s first formation, with Raheem Sterling lining up at left wing-back and Reece James on the opposite flank.

The Chelsea forward often found himself in a lot of space wide left, with Amar Dedic often dropping off the 27-year-old.

He put in three crosses, third only to James on the other wing (7) and Mason Mount (6). Sterling played one key pass in his 83 minutes on the pitch.

The England international attempted two shots at the Bridge, with one of those hitting the back of the net. Sterling is now Chelsea’s top scorer this season, with four goals to his name. No other player has more than one goal so far this season. Raheem also won last night’s UEFA Man of the Match award.

New role for Cucurella

Summer signing Marc Cucurella has been known to operate as a left wing-back or full-back, and that is where he played for the majority of his Brighton career under our new head coach.

However, there have been matches where the Spaniard has been deployed at left centre-back, most notably in Brighton’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in our final game of 2021.

The 24-year-old was again utilised there last night for the first time since arriving, and when we were defending it was clear that he came further left, as we played a back four when out of possession.