Both of these teams were playing their final game before upcoming, season-defining occasions. Only one will go into theirs lifted by events at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea host Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday.
And there was little against Brighton to give them any encouragement they can turn things around. This was another deflating, dispiriting occasion for Chelsea.
One against a club they, led by watching co-owner Todd Boehly, have raided in the last year but remain some way off – on and off the pitch – a damning indictment.