Chelsea Conquer Tottenham to Traverse Towards the Top

Home Crowd Offer Home Comforts

After a chorusing rendition of ‘Oh when the Spurs…’ (in which the trumpets seemed louder than the fans) the match kicked off under the floodlights of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Postecoglu had opted for an intriguing centre back partnership of Cristian Romero and Micky Van de Ven- intriguing not because of their skill- the two being the clear first choices for Spurs in the centre-half position, but because both seemed to have been rushed back from respective injuries. Also intriguing, but somewhat less so, was Maresca’s decision to give Benoit Badiashile only his second start of the season; alongside Moises Caicedo at right-back- the movement of the defensive midfielder having born fruit for the Blues in their 3-0 win over Aston Villa. Both managers then chose relatively orthodox attacking lineups, Solanke and Son providing a threat for the side in white and Palmer with the newly invigorated Sancho for the team in blue. And it didn’t take long for the action to begin.

A slip from the Chelsea fullback Marc Cucurella gifted Johnson the ball on the wing who slid a slick ball into the area which Solanke beat Colwill to at the near post; smashing it into the top left corner of the net to give Tottenham the lead within five minutes. Robert Sanchez (who had re-earned his place in the starting squad after losing out to Jorgensen in Chelsea’s last premier league match) was rooted to the spot, stunned by the quick start.

Just minutes later, Cucurella proceeded to slip again, allowing Kulusevski to cut in and slot the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal for 2-0. However, after Cucurella finished berating his kit man, Postecoglu’s interesting centre back pairing began to crack, Romero came off for Dragusin after picking up yet another injury before Jason Sancho cut in from the left and tucked in a beautiful strike of the post into the bottom right corner of Forster’s net- even the 6”7 giant couldn’t stop the powerful shot. Then the game began to bounce back and forth like a yo-yo, with Palmer looking certain to score but then inexplicably missing the ball after Enzo Fernandez’s cut-back and Son curling one just over the bar for Spurs. It seemed impossible that this part of the game would go begging without a goal for either side, yet Forster was determined to see it so, by getting down twice for a fantastic double save off of Palmer’s initial shot and Pedro Neto’s follow-up. Then Caicedo’s dubious challenge on Pape Mate Sarr was somehow cleared after going studs up on his shins, VAR deeming there to be a lack of excessive force, and from a corner soon after Son headed the ball onto the bar and over before teeing up Solanke who was unable to turn it either side of Robert Sanchez who was having a torrid game, his repeatedly dreadful clearances leading to mounting pressure on his away side. As the first half wound down, a Jackson shot was blazed over the bar and questions were raised over a possible red card offence committed by Kulusevski on Lavia (which was quickly checked and cleared). The whistle ended a disappointing half for both teams, the home side likely feeling they should have scored a few more and ruing the red card that wasn’t given, and the visiting Blues one goal down despite starting the game week in second (almost ten places above Spurs) and being clear favourites. Chelsea had it all to do in the second forty-five away from home.

The Fightback Begins

At the start of the second half, Chelsea was on the front foot, a neat one-two between Sancho and Cucurella (who was able to stay on his feet this time) led to another Forster save. Enzo Fernandez then curled a shot just wide of the post before Brennan Johnson was forced of via injury from the former Chelsea man, Timo Werner. Sanchez continued his penchant for absolutely terrible clearances (never seeming to get the ball above head height) until Malo Gusto, who was subbed on at halftime for Romeo Lavia, forced a strong save out of Forster at the other end. Then, the grace period ended abruptly, Pedro Neto robbed Bissouma on the sideline leading to an attack which culminated in Sancho slotting through Caicedo who was brought down by a Spurs defender in the ares. In the words of the Sky sports commentator, ‘There is nobody calmer than Cole Palmer,’ who put the resultant penalty away coolly for 2-2. A nervy spell of Tottenham possession ensued after the goal, ended by a beautiful weaving run from Palmer and after the deflected shot, the bouncing ball was caught sweetly by Enzo Fernandez on the half volley, firing the ball into the bottom left corner, completing the turnaround and finishing an unbelievable comeback: from 2-0 to 3-2 up.

Thrilling Finish, but where do Spurs go from here?

But the game wasn’t over yet, a distressed Nicolas Jackson came off after a relatively quiet performance for the inform Nkunku and Van de Ven went down with yet another injury for Tottenham. Both centre-halves were rushed back from injury for the match and neither finished the game after Spurs introduced a slew of substitutions. Young talents Archie Gray and Bergvall along with senior star Maddison entering the fray for the injured Van de Ven, the goal scorer Kulusevski, and Yves Bissouma.

After a Spurs corner, Neto slid a pass down the line to Sancho who broke forward with the ball before slotting in Palmer who went down in the area after a shove in the back from Pape Matte Sarr and won yet another penalty for Chelsea. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium must have dropped a few degrees as Palmer panenka’d Forster and gave the Blues breathing room at 4-2 up. Neto gave way to Madueke (though he was none to pleased about it) who many were surprised to see left out of the starting eleven, after the former picked up a yellow card that rules him out of the following game against Brentford.

Palmer was denied an opportunity to equal the hatrick of penalties scored by Kluivert and was replaced by Felix, whereas Cucurella (who had a fine game after his earlier mishaps) gave way to another Portuguese, the somewhat larger Renato Veiga. The forth official held up the board to indicate seven minutes of stoppage time, as Maddison curled is frustrations over the bar, having surely expected to start. Timo Werner slipped in Son, yet Robert Sanchez was too quick off his line and snuffed out the burgeoning opportunity. A sloppily given free kick was sloppily taken by Porto and smashed into the wall before he connected sweetly with the rebound on the volley, flashing it just past the post. On the resulting corner, Maddison dribbled freely on the byline, wandering into the Chelsea box and cutting it back for Son who smashed it in from six yards with a minute left of added time, giving the home side a glimmer of hope. Yet it was too little too late as a deep cross went begging at Robert Sanchez’s back post and the referee blew for full-time. What had started as a brilliant night for the Spurs ended in calamity: the Blues fought back to a win and Postecoglu’s team resided in eleventh place, his problems compounded by the three injuries his team picked up on the night. Maresca celebrated jubilantly as his team sat in a second place, two points ahead of other London rivals Arsenal who had dropped points to Fulham earlier in the night and only four behind Liverpool who have a Merseyside derby in hand after that game was postponed due to weather conditions. Despite Chelsea’s repeated insistence, it seems that they are in the title race after all.