Tottenham’s gamers misplaced their heads and the remaining unbeaten file 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 targets and a maverick tactical strategy by Spurs supervisor Ange Postecoglou in his unlikely bid to outlive with 9 males.
Jackson broke the resistance of Tottenham together with his three targets from the seventy fifth minute, settling a frantic recreation that defied logic at instances as hosts survived for some time regardless of taking part in a excessive line of defense following the sending-offs of Romero within the thirty third and Udogie within the fifty fifth.
“It is fairly laborious to course of,” Postecoglou said. “It’s almost impossible to analyze the game because it just seemed to get out of control.”
Dejan Kulusevski gave Tottenham a flying start by scoring off a deflected shot in the sixth minute, only for the derby to turn fiery amid a blaze of wild challenges and crazy incidents.
Amidst all the madness, Cole Palmer equalized from the spot after Romero conceded a penalty — and earned a fourth red card in 2 1/2 years at Tottenham — for a dangerous lunge on Argentina teammate Enzo Fernandez.
And when Udogie collected a second yellow card, Tottenham faced an uphill battle to preserve its undefeated start to the season.
Chelsea initially failed to get past Tottenham’s brave but possibly naïve high line but did so eventually to devastating effect. Jackson’s final two goals came deep into stoppage time to clinch a memorable win for visiting manager Mauricio Pochettino on his return to the club he coached from 2014-19 and led to a Champions League final.
Postecoglou had no regrets regarding his tactics while his team was down to nine men, saying: “It is just who we are. It is who we are and who we will be for as long as I am here.
“If we go down to 5 males, we could have a crack.”
It left Manchester City, the defending champion, a degree away from second-placed Tottenham after an eleventh spherical of video games that noticed Liverpool and Arsenal, the opposite groups within the prime 4, additionally fail to win.
The first half, particularly, was mayhem.
Aside from the 2 targets and the purple card to Romero, there have been 4 disallowed targets, game-ending accidents to Tottenham gamers James Maddison and Micky van de Ven, yellow playing 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 additionally prevented punishment for kicking out at Colwill off the ball, just for the World Cup winner to see purple a couple of minutes later. Along with the 4 purple playing cards, he has additionally had 26 yellow playing cards in his time at Spurs.
The recreation was harking back to the so-called “Battle of the Bridge” between the groups on the finish of the 2015-16 season, when Tottenham’s title hopes evaporated at Stamford Bridge.
There was additionally the denouement of a match between the rivals on the similar stadium early final season when respective managers Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte pushed one another after failing to shake fingers on the closing whistle.
This match will likely be remembered for what occurred on the sphere, and particularly Postecoglou’s try and win the sport quite than simply maintain on for a draw.
“I am very proud of the players,” the Australian coach mentioned. “Right to the end, they were trying to create something 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 will have to sustain its strong start to the season without its two first-choice central defenders for a while, with Udogie also suspended for the trip to Wolverhampton on Saturday and an injury concern to star playmaker Maddison.
It was a first career hat trick for Jackson, a Senegal striker who has had a tough first few months in the league after his summer move from Villarreal.
His finishing ability has often been criticized but he took his goals well, albeit from close range after Chelsea broke the offside trap at will by the end. His hat trick-clinching goal saw him run through on goal from Palmer’s pass, sit down goalkeeper Vicario with a shimmy, and then round him to tap into an empty net.
“This will build his confidence,” Pochettino mentioned of Jackson. “I hope this hat trick allows him to play more relaxed and play with the confidence he needs.” (AP) APA APA
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