Spurs 1-4 Chelsea
Premier League
Chelsea finally broke the resistance of our nine men to end our unbeaten start to the season and take a 4-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday evening.
Here are the key moments of an incredible night of football in N17...
- Dejan Kulusevski's shot deflects home off Levi Colwill after seven minutes as we made a stunning start.
- Heung-Min Son converts a second but it's narrowly ruled out for offside by VAR.
- Raheem Sterling and Moises Caicedo have goals cancelled out by VAR, then Cristian Romero sent off on a VAR call and Chelsea awarded a penalty - converted by Cole Palmer for 1-1 on 34 minutes.
- James Maddison and Micky van de Ven both depart before half-time due to injury.
- We're reduced to nine men on 55 minutes when Destiny Udogie receives a second yellow card.
- We hold on for 20 minutes before Nicolas Jackson taps home for 2-1.
- Incredibly, our nine men create three chances to equalise - Eric Dier's goal ruled out for offside by VAR, Rodrigo Bentancur and Son - before Jackson completes his hat-trick with a brace in stoppage time for 4-1.
The report in full...
Where to start with this one?
It's often said that you learn more about teams and players in adversity. Defeated on the night, two players sent off, James Maddison and Micky van de Ven back in the dressing room as well through injury, our nine players stood up bravely to everything Chelsea could throw at us until the visitors finally broke through to take a 2-1 lead on 75 minutes.
Amazingly, we still carved out three chances to level after that - Eric Dier's sweet finish on 79 minutes ruled out by VAR, Rodrigo Bentancur headed wide and Heung-Min Son's low shot tipped away by Robert Sanchez. Only then did Jackson complete his hat-trick with break-away goals in added time for the 4-1 final score.
We made a breathtaking start and led when Dejan Kulusevski's shot deflected home on seven minutes. Chelsea couldn't live with our high press and the sheer intensity of our play and we were millimetres from 2-0 when Son's goal was ruled out for offside by VAR.
Chelsea settled, though, and had goals from Raheem Sterling and Moises Caicedo ruled out by VAR. It was then back to VAR in the wake of the second one for the game's big call with Cristian Romero adjudged to have not only fouled Enzo Fernandez in the box, but shown a straight red for tackling with excessive force. We lost Romero, went down to 10 men and Cole Palmer levelled it up from the spot, although Guglielmo Vicario managed to tip onto the post.
Cruelly, we then lost van de Ven and Maddison to injury and, 10 minutes into the second half, we were down to nine as Destiny Udogie received a second yellow card.
We defended superbly for the next 20 minutes as Chelsea couldn't get their final pass right. When they did, Vicario was outstanding and somehow Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg scrambled Jackson's header over the bar.
Chelsea eventually broke through when Sterling broke the offside trap and slid in Jackson on 75 minutes. Spurred on by the home crowd, we kept going, created those chances and almost pulled a result out of the fire. It wasn't to be, though, as Jackson took advantage of the space in behind to complete his hat-trick.
The players went off to applause, with the fans still singing - and that said it all.
Match data...
Spurs (4-3-3): Vicario, Pedro Porro, Romero, van de Ven (Royal 45+2), Udogie, Bissouma, Sarr (Bentancur 61), Maddison (Hojbjerg 45+2), Johnson (Dier 34), Son (c), Kulusevski (Skipp 61). Substitutes (not used): Forster, Richarlison, Bryan, Lo Celso.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez, James (Gusto 77), Disasi, Silva, Colwill (Cucurella 46), Caicedo, Ferndandez (Mudryk 58), Gallagher, Palmer, Sterling (Ugochukwu 90+1), Jackson. Substitutes (not used): Petrovic, Badiashile, Madueke, Maatsen, Washington.
Goals: Spurs - Kulusevski 6; Chelsea - Palmer 34 (pen), Jackson 75, 90+4, 90+6.
Yellow cards: Spurs - Udogie, Sarr; Chelsea - Jackson, Colwill, Gusto, Mudryk, Ugochukwu.
Red cards: Spurs - Romero, Udogie.
Referee: Michael Oliver.
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Attendance: 61,726.
Weather: Mild, 10 degrees at kick-off.
Ange's verdict...
"It’s a hard game to analyse, but in terms of will and determination it was an outstanding effort by the lads. I thought we started really well, scored a good goal, then we were inches away from scoring a good second, but it was offside. Then the game got out of control, there was a lot happening that made the game go a little bit not within the parameters we want to play. It felt like after that there were a lot of disruptions. I thought the players gave everything they could and, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough."
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