Starting the New Year with a BANG: Brighton star Alireza Jahanbakhsh scores incredible overhead kick against Chelsea (VIDEO)

Brighton winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh started 2020 in style as the Iranian scored a stunning overhead kick equalizer for his team in the Premier League encounter with Chelsea.

Jahanbakhsh, 26, came on as a second-half substitute with his team 1-0 down after Chelsea skipper Cesar Azpilicueta’s opener early in the game, but salvaged a point with an acrobatic strike six minutes from time.

The ball was headed to the Iranian 10 yards out after a Brighton corner, with Jahanbakhsh facing away from goal but launching himself upwards and making the cleanest of contact to send the ball past Kepa and into the corner of the net.

The athletic effort was Jahanbakhsh’s second goal in two games for Brighton – after he had gone 26 games waiting to find the net for the team he joined from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar for a club record fee of around £17 million in July 2018.   

Tears had followed his first goal against Bournemouth in the 2-0 win on December 28, while his second was met with wild celebration at the Amex Stadium as the hosts salvaged a vital point in their bid to edge even further away from the bottom three.

The social media plaudits also poured in for a goal that illuminated the first day of Premier League action in the new decade.

The draw means Frank Lampard’s Chelsea sit fourth on 36 points in the Premier League table, five points ahead of Manchester United, who travel to Arsenal later on New Year’s day.

Graham Potter’s Brighton are 13th on 24 points, five clear of the relegation zone but having played at least one game more than the teams in the bottom three.