Tottenham 1-4 Chelsea: Blues player ratings
By Abdul Abdullahi
And breathe – what a game of football! Chelsea secured the comeback to win 4-1 against a nine-man Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night in the Premier League. Mauricio Pochettino’s first return to his former club ended in triumph. While the Blues ultimately clinched a comfortable win, Ange Postecoglou’s side put up a commendable fight.
The match began in a disastrous manner for the visitors. Just five minutes into the game, Chels‘ found themselves trailing by a goal. A strike from Dejan Kulusevski deflected off Levi Colwill and found its way into Robert Sanchez’s net. It appeared that the hosts had extended their lead shortly after, as Son Heung-min tapped in after a well-executed move, but a VAR check disallowed the goal.
Further VAR drama ensued. A harsh challenge from Destiny Udogie prompted a red card check, but only a yellow card was given. Shortly after, Chelsea launched an attack, and Raheem Sterling found the net, only for another VAR intervention to disallow the goal.
The first-half chaos didn’t end there. Moises Caicedo unleashed a shot from distance, but VAR ruled it offside. However, in the same incident, Cristian Romero’s tackle on Enzo Fernandez was deemed dangerous and resulted in his dismissal. CFC were awarded a penalty, which Cole Palmer confidently converted to level the score.
In the second half, the chaos persisted. After a late challenge on Sterling, Udogie received a second yellow card, reducing the home side to just nine men. Despite being at a numerical disadvantage, the north Londoners continued to put up a spirited fight, whilst the west Londoners kept wasting opportunities.
Eventually, the pressure took its toll. Sterling broke through the Spurs defense and had Nicolas Jackson for company. He squared the ball to the Senegalese forward, who calmly slotted it into an empty net. Spurs still refused to back down, and in the 79th minute, they even appeared to equalize – but VAR intervened, and Eric Dier’s goal was disallowed.
Chelsea sealed the contest in the closing moments, with Jackson netting twice, securing his hat-trick, to give the Blues a rather flattering 4-1 victory overall. Here’s The Pride of London’s CFC player ratings.