Chelsea ended Tottenham’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season in a chaotic clash in north London, one which saw Spurs reduced to nine men in a game packed full of incident and controversy.
Spurs started well and opened the scoring inside six minutes through Dejan Kulusevski, but the game changed as Chelsea equalised from the penalty spot through Cole Palmer, in an incident that saw Cristian Romero sent off for fouling Enzo Fernandez inside the area.
Spurs suffered further loss with both Micky van de Ven and James Maddison substituted before half-time through injury.
The contest continued at an epic pace with a total of five goals ruled out for offside or handball, with VAR regularly called into action throughout. Spurs were reduced to nine men when Destiny Udogie was sent off for a second yellow card ten minutes into the second half, and Chelsea ran riot in the closing stages. Nicolas Jackson – guilty of missing some glaring opportunities earlier in the game – scored a hat-trick inside the final 15 minutes.
Chelsea exploited the added space and a high defensive line from nine-man Spurs, who missed the chance to return to the top of the Premier League table after a derby defeat.
Reflecting on an exhilarating clash, Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino told BBC Sport: “This is football. We won and deserved it. The technology is there and we need to accept. Many things happen on the pitch and you need to verify and check.
“Look at the game between Tottenham and Liverpool here, Tottenham won in the last minute. I think we deserve the credit. Tottenham are doing fantastic but tonight I think we were the better team.”
On Jackson’s hat-trick, he added: “It is amazing for him and really important to build confidence.
“I think 4-1 in the end we deserved the victory and the three points and it is really important because we have a really important game next with Manchester City.
“It is clear from the beginning we didn’t have the whole squad. This momentum we need to build and on Sunday we have another opportunity to show we are in a good way.”
