Why Trevoh Chalobah will only miss one Chelsea game instead of three after red card explained

Trevoh Chalobah was sent off in Chelsea's 3-1 defeat to Brighton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. With the Blues holding a one-goal advantage early in the second half, an error from Andrey Santos put his teammate in an incredibly awkward position.

Brighton's Diego Gomez was bearing down on goal, and as the last man, Chalobah brought him down. A lengthy VAR check eventually saw Darren England recommend that referee Simon Hooper go to the pitch-side monitor, and the Chelsea defender was shown the red card.

Chalobah is now set to serve a one-game suspension from domestic English football as a result. That is the typical sentence handed out for red cards awarded under the pretence of denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, as was confirmed in the referee's on-field announcement.

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Also, Robert Sanchez was dismissed just six days earlier in last weekend's defeat to Manchester United for the very same reason—not violent conduct. This meant the suspension lasted only one game as opposed to three.

Chelsea's next domestic fixture is their final one before the next international break. They host reigning champions Liverpool at Stamford Bridge next Saturday, October 4 in a 5:30pm kick-off.

This ultimately means Chalobah will still be eligible to feature in the Blues' Champions League fixture against SL Benfica, also at Stamford Bridge, which takes place on the earlier date of Tuesday, September 30.

And the 26-year-old will eventually be able to return to Premier League action directly after the international break, when Enzo Maresca's men travel to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, October 18.

After Chalobah's sending off the tide turned in Brighton's favour and they went on the score three goals before the final whistle. Two Danny Welbeck strikes fell either side of another from Maxim De Cuyper.

"It's a tough one because we were in control of the game, we scored one, we scored more, we didn't concede nothing, they just said to me also in terms of data, we had so many shots in the first half, 70 percent of possession, everything was fine," said Maresca.

"And then suddenly, because of our mistake, and then with the red card, again, the plan completely changed.

"So for me we played two games, first-half, and then unfortunately after the red card."

With Wesley Fofana, Tosin Adarabioyo and Levi Colwill all out injured, Maresca has another problem to solve ahead of Liverpool's visit.