Tottenham Hotspur have conceded their first defeat of the season and lost the lead in the table to champions and treble winners Manchester City. In the London city duel against Chelsea FC, Spurs had to play almost the entire second half with a double deficit, but still posed problems for the Blues for long periods
For Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino, the game at Spurs on matchday 11 was a special one, as it was the Argentinian’s first visit to his old stomping ground since being sacked in 2019. His five years as Tottenham coach included reaching the Champions League final.
On the sporting side: After the recent 2:1 win against Blackburn Rovers in the League Cup, he made three changes to his starting eleven. Badiashile, Cucurella and Ugochukwu initially took their places on the bench, with Thiago Silva, Colwill and Caicedo starting in their place. For the home side, Ange Postecoglou made all but two changes from the 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace. Only Udogie and Johnson started in place of Davies and Richarlison
Kulusevski with the lead
The hosts started briskly and made the better start to the game. Chelsea had problems with Spurs’ quick passing at the start. Ange Postecoglou’s side took the lead after just six minutes: Kulusevski was lucky that Colwill deflected unstoppably with his back (6′). Tottenham kept their foot on the gas pedal and had the next goal through Pedro Porro (7′). A few minutes later, however, it was Porro who came within a whisker of equalizing for the visitors. His mistake went unpunished, however, as Vicario made a brilliant save from Jackson in goal (11). Spurs scored a second in the 13th minute, but Son’s goal was disallowed for offside (13′).
From then on, the game became turbulent. Sterling supposedly equalized, but his goal was disallowed due to a handball (21). In the same sequence, Tottenham central defender Romero was lucky that his challenge on Colwill went unpunished. Chelsea now got into the game better and had two shots from distance through Enzo Fernandez (25) and Colwill (26), but they were harmless. Two minutes later, the ball was in the net again – and once more the goal did not appear on the scoreboard, as Jackson was standing in the forbidden area when Caicedo shot and Vicario had blocked his view.
Romero sees red – Palmer equalizes
This offside was not the only VAR review here, as Romero had caught Enzo Fernandez on the ankle with full force while trying to clear the ball. The result: red for the Argentinian and a penalty for the Blues, which Palmer converted to equalize (35′). Anyone who thought that the game would become less turbulent after that was very much mistaken. Chelsea scored the next goal shortly afterwards, but Sterling was once again offside (38′). In addition to the red card, Spurs had to deal with personnel setbacks before the break. Both Maddison and van den Ven were injured and had to come off.
There were twelve (!) minutes of stoppage time in the first half alone, during which Chelsea pressed for the lead but failed to take it. The VAR was called in to help with virtually the last scene because of another possible red card, but James’ elbowing went unpunished.
Udogie is also sent off
After the break, Chelsea were still in control and had chances to score a second goal through Palmer (47′) and Sterling (51′, 53′). An attack by the home side shortly afterwards proved to be their undoing, as Chelsea’s counter-attack resulted in a foul by Udogie (55). Already cautioned with a yellow card, that was it for him, leaving Spurs with just nine men. Höjberg saved the resulting free-kick on the line against Jackson. Despite being twice short-handed, Spurs adopted a remarkable approach as they waited with their last line at the halfway line in almost every action and took extreme risks by playing for offside.
Jackson redeems the Blues
Chelsea initially struggled to capitalize on their double superiority and found it difficult to play the home side. Every now and then they went offside, while Vicario occasionally intercepted balls well outside his own penalty area. In the 75th minute, however, the time had come and Tottenham were cracked: Jackson only had to push a cross-field pass from Sterling over the line.
The end? Not by a long shot! Tottenham came close to equalizing, but Dier was offside with his direct shot (78′). Bentancur (78) and Son (90+3), who failed to beat Sanchez after a powerful solo run and clever finish from 15 meters, also had good chances to make it 2-2. Towards the end, the hosts’ increased risk took its revenge twice more – and the game was over: Jackson scored in the same manner as his previous goal to make it 3:1 (90.+4). And with the final whistle, he completed the treble after he ran into Vicario, curved around him and slotted into the empty net (90.+7).
Tottenham suffered their first defeat of the season, despite a more than respectable performance, and surrendered the lead in the table to Manchester City, who had already overtaken them with a 6-1 win over Bournemouth on Saturday. Chelsea moved up to 10th place with 15 points, but are still lagging far behind their own expectations
