Tottenham’s unbeaten streak ends with 4-1 loss to Chelsea

SPORTSAREENA.comNovember 7, 2023

24 3 minutes read

Tottenham’s gamers misplaced their heads and the remaining unbeaten report within the English Premier League.

A late hat trick by Nicolas Jackson sealed a 4-1 victory for Chelsea in a chaotic London derby on Monday that includes two purple playing cards — to Tottenham defenders Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie — 5 disallowed objectives and a maverick tactical strategy by Spurs supervisor Ange Postecoglou in his unlikely bid to survive with 9 males.

Jackson broke the resistance of Tottenham with his three objectives from the seventy fifth minute, settling a frantic sport that defied logic at occasions as hosts survived for some time regardless of taking part in a excessive defensive position following the sending-offs of Romero within the thirty third and Udogie within the fifty fifth.

“It is pretty hard to process,” Postecoglou stated. “It’s almost impossible to analyze the game because it just seemed to get out of control.”

Dejan Kulusevski gave Tottenham a flying begin by scoring off a deflected shot within the sixth minute, just for the derby to flip fiery amid a blaze of untamed challenges and loopy incidents.

Amidst all of the insanity, Cole Palmer equalized from the spot after Romero conceded a penalty — and earned a fourth purple card in 2 1/2 years at Tottenham — for a harmful lunge on Argentina teammate Enzo Fernandez.

And when Udogie collected a second yellow card, Tottenham confronted an uphill battle to protect its undefeated begin to the season.

Chelsea initially failed to get previous Tottenham’s courageous however probably naïve excessive line however did so ultimately to devastating impact. Jackson’s remaining two objectives got here deep into stoppage time to clinch a memorable win for visiting supervisor Mauricio Pochettino on his return to the membership he coached from 2014-19 and led to a Champions League remaining.

Postecoglou had no regrets concerning his ways whereas his crew was down to 9 males, saying: “It is simply who we’re. It is who we’re and who we will likely be for so long as I’m right here.

“If we go down to 5 males, we may have a crack.”

It left Manchester City, the defending champion, a point clear of second-placed Tottenham after an 11th round of games that saw Liverpool and Arsenal, the other teams in the top four, also fail to win.

The first half, in particular, was mayhem.

Aside from the two goals and the red card to Romero, there were four disallowed goals, game-ending injuries to Tottenham players James Maddison and Micky van de Ven, yellow cards to Postecoglou for complaining and Udogie for a flying two-footed lunge, a free-for-all sparked by a scuffle between Chelsea’s Levi Colwill and Tottenham’s Pape Sarr, and 12 minutes of stoppage time.

Romero also avoided punishment for kicking out at Colwill off the ball, only for the World Cup winner to see red a few minutes later. Along with the four red cards, he has also had 26 yellow cards in his time at Spurs.

The game was reminiscent of the so-called “Battle of the Bridge” between the teams at the end of the 2015-16 season, when Tottenham’s title hopes evaporated at Stamford Bridge.

There was also the dénouement of a match between the rivals at the same stadium early last season when respective managers Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte pushed each other after failing to shake hands at the final whistle.

This match will be remembered for what happened on the field, and in particular Postecoglou’s attempt to win the game rather than just hold on for a draw.

“I’m very pleased with the gamers,” the Australian coach said. “Right to the top, they have been attempting to create one thing for us.

“The players couldn’t give any more than they did. Part of this game is will, effort and determination and they showed that.”

Ultimately, Tottenham may have to maintain its robust begin to the season with out its two first-choice central defenders for some time, with Udogie additionally suspended for the journey to Wolverhampton on Saturday and an harm concern to star playmaker Maddison.

It was a primary profession hat trick for Jackson, a Senegal striker who has had a tricky first few months within the league after his summer time transfer from Villarreal.

His ending skill has usually been criticized however he took his objectives properly, albeit from shut vary after Chelsea broke the offside lure at will by the top. His hat trick-clinching objective noticed him run by on objective from Palmer’s move, sit down goalkeeper Vicario with a shimmy, after which spherical him to faucet into an empty web.

“This will build his confidence,” Pochettino stated of Jackson. “I hope this hat trick allows him to play more relaxed and play with the confidence he needs.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.