Victory over Tottenham Hotspur should always be sweet for Chelsea and their followers, but Monday night’s unlikely 4-1 triumph over their high-flying foes somehow leaves a bitter taste. This was the definition of a scoreline not telling the whole story. While the two managers dominated the pre-match narrative, this was a tale of red cards, VAR drama and self-destructiveness.
Tottenham’s implosion – reduced to nine men before the hour mark as Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie were dismissed either side of half-time – only seemed to bring the worst out of Mauricio Pochettino’s side on the Argentine’s return to north London.
They got there in the end as Nicolas Jackson capitalised on Ange Postecoglou’s insistence on an inexplicably high line with a late hat-trick, but Chelsea’s toil against their depleted rivals made this feel like something of a hollow victory. With more stern tests on the horizon, the performance must actually be seen as a concern.
Inexplicable head-loss
Many of Chelsea’s initial problems with seizing their numerical advantage stemmed from almost being drawn into Tottenham’s storm of ill discipline.
In first-half stoppage time, both Levi Colwill and Reece James found themselves in hot water, moments after Romero had been given his marching orders for a wild lunge and Cole Palmer had brought the Blues level from the spot.
Colwill became engaged in a completely unnecessary shoving match with Pape Sarr, while his captain James escaped punishment after catching Udogie with a stray elbow. Pochettino wisely opted to withdraw a fired-up Colwill at the break, but on another day Chelsea could have easily thrown their advantage away.
Lack of confidence & ruthlessness laid bare
Tottenham’s second red card in the 55th minute should have seen the floodgates creak open, but instead an excruciating 19-minute spell followed, as Chelsea were foiled by a combination of their own imprecision and profligacy, as well as some excellent goalkeeping from Guglielmo Vicario.
The Blues looked incapable of scoring even if the match had gone on for a week – a microcosm of their problems in front of goal in recent months and years. This was arguably their worst half of football under Pochettino to date.
Passes flew astray, players were caught agonisingly offside and Spurs looked remarkably comfortable despite their two-man handicap. When Jackson finally found the back of the net for the first time, there was a sense of relief more than anything else. That was the period that saw the outcome swing in the home side’s favour, regardless of the result.
No composure, no control
Pochettino would have hoped that that long-awaited go-ahead goal would steady the ship and Chelsea would be in the ascendancy from that moment onwards, but instead they looked wobbly and their defensive frailties were exposed on three occasions as Spurs missed gilt-edged chances to draw level.
They were incredibly fortunate to see Eric Dier’s immediate response chalked off for a marginal offside after some non-existent marking from a free-kick, before a carbon-copy set piece saw Rodrigo Bentancur somehow bundle the ball wide from three yards out.
Then, in the third minute of added time, with the score still just 2-1 almost 40 minutes after Spurs had been reduced to nine, Chelsea gave the ball away and Son Heung-min drove at the defence before forcing a decent save from Sanchez.
Chelsea’s lack of authority was alarming, and Pochettino admitted his side needed to show more control after the game. “It’s true that we concede some chances that we cannot concede that, I agree with you,” he said. “Maybe we can assess the performance and to see the goal of Dier or this type of situation or Son, that we lose the ball and we allow them to run, of course, we need to control better.”
Worrying signs
The scoreline and performance were so wildly mismatched that it’s hard to know exactly what effect this result will have. While it should boost confidence, Pochettino also has reason to be concerned – especially given the upcoming fixture list.
Chelsea face Man City, Newcastle, Brighton and Man Utd in their next four games either side of the international break, and you would expect that they will need to hit a much higher level against a full set of players in each of those clashes.
Had Tottenham maintained their full complement, they could have run out comfortable victors over their former head coach.
A win is a win
However, on those nights where chaos reigns and there are so many variables, the result is ultimately all that matters. Indeed, that is evidently how Pochettino has chosen to judge the performance. Whether he maintains the same outlook behind the scenes remains to be seen.
“In the end we got what we wanted, we won 4-1,” he said once the dust had finally settled. “We can look and analyse and talk, but for us we are just happy with the three points. We have played really well from the start of the season, deserved more, but in the end it is about winning points.
“It was important to come here to Tottenham and win the game against a team playing really well. It could be an important three points for us, to help us now start to push up the table.”
