The Blues were also knocked out of the FA Cup by Brighton, which won on Friday evening through goals from Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh (2).
Afterwards, Brighton boss manager Fabian Hurzeler beamed: "I wouldn't say it was complete, we suffered at the start and then after the first goal we got slightly too passive. We defended quite well and that was the key today. Compactness, intensity and always doing it together.
"It is not about me. It is about the club and I give the best for the success of the club and to support my players. I get judged by the results but I will always give everything for the club and in the end, the players are the most important. They need to show togetherness and I am happy for them.
"For me, the 7-0 (defeat by Nottingham Forest) is still a topic but trust the process. It is only one game and we shouldn't overanalyse now. It happens and we are very sorry to the supporters because they deserve more but all the staff worked really hard to give the supporters a performance they deserved tonight.
"It is important to not overreact when you have positives as well. It is important to understand why we get these things, because of hard training. if we keep the standards, let's see what happens."
On Mitoma's superb opener, he said: "Sometimes you can't explain the things from special players. It was a special action from him and he deserves it because he works hard every day. He is fully committed to this club and I am glad he got it."
On Minteh's influence, he added: "I think he tries to improve in every aspect of the game. Defensive work is key and the attacking players have to be part of it. When you commit to the team, I am convinced you will get the chances in the transition and he did."