But Potter has said he has nothing to apologise for after he was heckled and jeered throughout the Premier League clash. With Brighton racing into a 3-0 lead in the first half, home fans mocked their former head coach with chants of: “You’re getting sacked in the morning!”
"I have nothing to apologise or say sorry for. I think I did a good job at the club and left it in a good place but people are entitled to their opinions,” Potter insisted.
"It's part of the process. You have to suffer and feel pain in order to grow and get better. Nobody said we were the finished article. We have to take the pain today and learn from it."
Chelsea boss Graham Potter suffered a 4-1 thrashing on his Premier League return to Brighton (Image: GETTY IMAGES)
Potter took several members of his backroom team to Stamford Bridge, including Brighton club icon Bruno Saltor. In the backdrop to this game was also Chelsea’s pursuit of the Seagulls’ recruitment chief Paul Winstanley.
But it was Brighton who came away from Saturday’s game with a stunning win - their first under Potter’s replacement, Roberto de Zerbi. A goal by Chelsea transfer target Leandro Trossard and own goals by Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah gave the South Coast outfit a remarkable three-goal lead at half-time.
Kai Havertz - who started up front ahead of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - scored early in the second half but there was to be no incredible comeback. Pascal Gross scored Brighton’s fourth in added-time.
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Graham Potter was taunted by Brighton fans as Chelsea were humiliated (Image: GETTY IMAGES)
"Yes of course the scoreline and the defeat is a painful one. We didn't really recover. Once the crowd were so engaged it was a difficult one for us. The scoreline was painful. Brighton played a good game, especially in the first half.
"You can always look at goals and think you can do better. We have to take responsibility a bit in the first half. We have had a lot of football but that's no excuse. We couldn't quite get to that level. We didn't take our opportunities in attack and they did.
"We had some opportunities to attack them too but unfortunately we missed the pass or didn't execute, then the scoreline was a painful one. When you lose you can always do better."