After playing ten Premier League games without suffering a defeat, Tottenham Hotspur and their new coach, Ange Postecoglou tasted first Premier League defeat of the 2023-2024 season at the hands of struggling Chelsea.
The London derby started as expected as Tottenham Hotspur were in full control of the game in the first 20 minutes especially after Dejan Kulusevski gave the home team the lead in the 6th minute.
After the 20th-minute mark, it was drama upon drama from Chelsea, Tottenham, and the Video Assistant Referee.
After the half-hour mark, Cristian Romero who escaped a red card earlier in the game, landed his boot on the ankle of Enzo Fernández in the penalty box and got red-carded after a VAR check.
During the process of the foul, Chelsea scored a goal which was ruled out for offside but got a penalty courtesy of Romero’s tackle on Enzo.
Cole Palmer stepped up to score the penalty which goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario almost pushed out but his effort hit the bottom post and bounced back into the net.
The dramatic first half ended in a 1-1 draw with Tottenham losing a player due to a red card offense and having to make two more forced substitutions due to injuries to James Maddison and Micky van de Ven.
The drama continued in the second half as both sides continued to pick up cards and VAR picked up offside goals just as in the first half.
In the 55th minute, Destiny Udogie who narrowly escaped a red card in the first half, was sent off after he pulled down Raheem Sterling while they were both challenging for the ball.
Destiny Udogie shown red for his tackle on Sterling.
Despite playing with two men less and a depleted first eleven, Tottenham Hotspur continued to prove that they were a better team as they looked more organized than the disappointing Chelsea.
However, in the last ten minutes and the additional 9 minutes, Chelsea began to play as they should and it became Nicolas Jackson’s show who had earlier recorded one disallowed goal.
Jackson got his first legitimate goal in the 75th minute and the other two came in the additional 9 minutes as he recorded his first Premier League hat-trick and Chelsea ran away from Tottenham Hotspur stadium with a 4-1 unexpected victory.
The victory pushed Chelsea to the 10th spot with 15 points in 11 games, while the defeat dropped Tottenham Hotspur from the first spot to the second spot with 26 points in 11 games.
The post Chelsea Give 9-Man Tottenham Hotspur First Defeat As Jackson Grabs Hat-Trick appeared first on Naija News.