Antonio Conte, and now Xabi Alonso. The only two Chelsea managers to be defeated by Tottenham in a Premier League match at Stamford Bridge.
Conte was defeated by Mauricio Pochettino's side in the 2017/18 season, losing 3-1 after two goals from Dele Alli and one from Christian Eriksen. Back then, it was a disappointment and almost a humiliation that Chelsea lost to Tottenham at home, especially with their impressive record on their own turf.
Things couldn't have gone any worse for Alonso's side on Saturday evening: a 2-0 loss, a red card for Cole Palmer, and a rather toothless performance. Consistency seems to be Alonso's Achilles ' heel so far; an impressive performance against Everton last week, and now how they performed last night will worry fans.
The post-match reaction to yesterday's result was no different to how it was eight years ago, with current manager Xabi Alonso coming under scrutiny for multiple reasons, not playing with a recognised striker in Joao Pedro's absence and his decision to keep certain players on longer than they should have, to name a few.
Speaking to the media last night, Alonso was asked what he thought of Cole Palmer's red card and how his side performed before and after the Chelsea number 10 was sent off.
"It was going to be about the key moment and once we have conceded the first goal it has changed everything. Straight away almost when we wanted to have a reaction, the red card and it went the other way and probably we can do better, so it is one to reflect in this big game that it was and it is a good opponent, the performance is one to improve."
With Palmer's suspension being served against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, he will be available for the game against Manchester United on Halloween, which could be a scary sight for United, given how recent games have gone, but Joao Pedro, who missed the game on Saturday might be sidelined for the trip to Anfield.
"We don't know yet because he has a lot of fluid, so he felt it yesterday and we need to wait probably till tomorrow to do the test and to know the whole situation and the whole seriousness of the injury and we will know soon enough."
Over the previous years, since the departures of Thibaut Courtois and, more recently, Edouard Mendy, Chelsea has been struggling to find a consistent and permanent goalkeeper, with Robert Sanchez, Filip Jorgensen, and Djordje Petrovic all getting run outs in the side but never nailing down a spot.
To solve that, Chelsea brought in Emiliano Martinez from Aston Villa, starting impressively but got injured against Everton, thrusting young Belgian keeper Mike Penders into the frame, but the youngster didn't have the best first impression in his first Premier League start, inadvertedly punching the ball into his own net to give Spurs the lead and overall not a convincing performance.
"We win, we lose together and it is part of the job to deal with and to overcome from mistakes, myself as well and everyone, so we support Mike and we support the rest of the team. He will learn from that and he will want to prove that he can do better and we have to show that we can do better."
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