Chelsea made a decent start to the game, and forced Spurs into several mistakes with some effective high pressing amid the non-ideal conditions of an absolute downpour. Unfortunately, we were not able to make that early pressure count. A fantastic Cole Palmer ball across the six-yard box was especially begging for a striker’s touch: alas, João Pedro was missing in action after picking up an injury in training.
After the first 15 or so minutes, Spurs started to gain control over proceedings, with Chelsea
dropping off and letting the visitors have the lion’s share of possession. Spurs were especially threatening down the left wing, with Josh Acheampong having to try his best to contain Mathys Tel. Mike Penders, on his full Premier League debut, was called into action a couple times, making important saves from Tel, as well as Omar Marmoush on a cutback.
Chelsea became a bit more proactive in the final stages of the first half, forcing a couple excellent saves from Antonín Kinský in the Spurs goal — though Jordan Henderson really should’ve left him with no chance after getting on the end of a lovely one-touch passing move generated by the high press.
No stoppage time underlined the flowing, non-stop — and scoreless — nature of the first half.
The second half, for a while, threatened to be a bit of a non-event (one Neto chance aside), but then things got a bit emotional as we headed into the final 15-20 minutes. Still, the game’s first goal needed a horrendous miscue from the otherwise excellent Penders, who punched the ball into the back of his own net on 77 minutes. Just horrible personally, collectively, everything-ly.
Things went from bad to worse soon after, with Cole Palmer shown an absolutely ridiculous second yellow for what was not even a foul. Conor Gallagher dove in after a loose ball and his foot ended up under Palmer’s stride who wasn’t even challenging for the ball. Chelsea had to play the final 10 minutes and stoppage time with ten.
Spurs would duly take advantage, with their main dangerman, Tel, beating two defenders then picking out the bottom corner from 20 yards to seal Spurs’ victory.
Carefree.
- No word on JP’s injury other than that it’s being assessed
- Zero goals scored in the two games that JP’s missed — no recognized striker on the pitch until the final few minutes
- Spurs’ first win at the Bridge since 2018 and just their second since 1990; definitely getting its own DVD
- Plenty of questions to answer for Alonso after this one
- Next up: Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday in the League Cup
- KTBFFH
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