Roberto De Zerbi labelled the Brighton & Hove Albion supporters as "the best player" after his side secured an impressive 4-1 Premier League victory against Chelsea at the Amex Stadium.
In a game which saw former Seagulls boss Graham Potter booed before kickoff, the hosts came out the blocks quickly and opened the scoring in the fifth minute through Leandro Trossard, who broke a Premier League record in the process.
Own goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah put Brighton three goals in front at half time, and although Kai Havertz pulled one back for Chelsea three minutes after the break, Pascal Gross added a fourth in stoppage time to earn De Zerbi his first win as manager of the Seagulls and condemn Potter to his first defeat as Blues head coach.
Brighton failed to win their first five games under the tutelage of De Zerbi, but the Italian has praised the club's raucous supporters for driving his side towards all three points.
Speaking to Sky Sports News after the match, De Zerbi said: "I am very happy for the players, for the club and the people working with our team and these great fans. They were the best player on the pitch. They helped us a lot and I am very happy.
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"In the first 20-25 minutes we were fantastic. We played like men. We have a style and the first 20-25 minutes was fantastic, really fantastic. We prepared the team with one-to-ones. All players were fantastic."
De Zerbi is not getting too carried away, though, and insists that he is now focused fully on Brighton's next game against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.
"I don't want to celebrate anything. Next Saturday there is another game," De Zerbi added. "I am sorry for the Chelsea goal [we conceded] because in the second half we suffered a stupid goal and made a mistake.
"They changed their tactical position and we weren't ready to change something for us. But I'm happy because 4-1 against Chelsea is an amazing result."
Asked by BBC Sport about the boos Potter received before and during the game, De Zerbi said: "No I don't want to speak for this. I am sorry for these things. I don't know the situation of the past and I don't want to know."
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Brighton captain Lewis Dunk has praised the "massive impact" that De Zerbi has had since arriving at the club last month.
"There's been a massive impact [since Roberto De Zerbi took charge]," Dunk told BBC Radio 5 Live. "Obviously we are still learning his ways and we are on the training pitch all together working as hard as we can for him and trying to take it on board.
"Obviously there is a language barrier sometimes with the interpreter but they have been excellent and the interpreter is excellent so we are getting there and I think we can see more and more improvements over the next coming weeks."
Brighton's victory over Chelsea has seen them move up to seventh in the Premier League table, three points behind the Blues in fifth and six behind in-form Newcastle United in fourth.
Oliver Thomas
