Since the beginning of last season, Chelsea have received the most red cards in the Premier League, with nine, even before their game against Spurs on Saturday, they were still a considerable margin ahead of the team below them who were their opponents at Stamford Bridge.
Cole Palmer was the ninth red card Chelsea had received, which brings up the same questions that have been lurking around Chelsea for the past few years: are they immature, and do they have a discipline problem.
After their performance on Saturday and how their players seemed to lose all composure when going behind, although with it being a big London derby, tackles and hard challenges are bound to be flying, there has to come a point where the players realise that there is a time and place for a bit of hostility.
There is no doubt that Chelsea has talented young players at their disposal, but there always seems to be a bit of maturity lacking within the club, and that was thought to have been solved by bringing in a bit more experience with Jordan Henderson, Danny Welbeck, and Emiliano Martinez.
What could be even more worrying for Chelsea fans is the manner in which their players are getting themselves sent off. Out of the eight red cards they got last season, given to seven different players, half of those were given for second yellows, meaning they knew that they had to be careful but still played in the same manner.
All of the times that these players got sent off, none of the instances ended in a positive outcome for Chelsea, either losing points from a winning position, or not getting anything from the game due to the red card.
Perhaps the worst instances of this were Wesley Fofana and Trevor Chalobah. For Fofana, Chelsea went into the final day of the season knowing a win would secure them European football for next season, and after Cole Palmer had equalised, Fofana picked up his second yellow just six minutes after Chelsea were level and eight minutes after picking up his initial booking, with the Blues going on to lose 2-1.
Whereas for Chalobah, Chelsea were in control against Brighton, being 1-0 up, but then the Englishman got sent off, and the momentum changed, with the Blues going on to lose 3-1.
Although Chelsea were 1-0 down and not playing well against Spurs on Saturday, they surely would have had to believe that there would be a chance for them to equalise, but Palmer "losing his head", as described by Gary Neville, meant that Chelsea's hopes to even getting a point out of it were basically none.
But they could count themselves lucky that they didn't finish the game with nine men after Morgan Rogers' late challenge raised eyebrows, and after seeing his mate Palmer get sent off 11 minutes earlier might have wanted to join him in the dressing room earlier than everyone else.
If Chelsea are ever to be properly considered title contenders with this current squad, then this streak seemingly going through the squad must be kicked out, but has to be a balance between agression and knowing when it's not the time for it.
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