Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham have lost two players to red cards and then lost the last remaining unbeaten record in the English Premier League in a chaotic 4-1 defeat by Chelsea.
Nicolas Jackson broke the resistance of Tottenham with three goals from the 75th minute, settling a frantic Monday night game that defied logic at times as Spurs survived for a while despite playing a high defensive line following the sending-offs of Cristian Romero in the 33rd and fellow defender Destiny Udogie in the 55th.
Dejan Kulusevski gave Tottenham a flying start by scoring off a deflected shot in the sixth minute, only for the London derby to turn fiery amid a blaze of wild challenges and crazy incidents.
Amidst it all, Cole Palmer equalised from the spot after Romero conceded a penalty — and earned a red card — 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 under their Australian manager Postecoglou.
Chelsea initially failed to get past Tottenham’s brave but possibly naïve high line but did so eventually to devastating effect through Jackson, whose final two goals came in stoppage time.
It left Manchester City, the defending champions, two points clear of second-placed Tottenham after 11 rounds.
The first half, in particular, was mayhem.
Aside from the two goals and the red card to Romero, there were four disallowed goals, game-ending injuries to Tottenham players James Maddison and Micky van de Ven, yellow 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 also avoided punishment for kicking out at Colwill off the ball, only to see red a few minutes later for the fourth time in less than 2 1/2 years at Spurs.
Source: AAP
