On a chaotic and contentious evening, Mauricio Pochettino made a triumphant comeback to Tottenham with Chelsea, while his former team was reduced to nine men.
In one of the Premier League’s most intense matches ever, the dramatic game featured five goals, five more that were disallowed, two red cards, and a plethora of VAR decisions that reduced the Argentine’s comeback to a small side story.
Spurs got off to a great start and took the lead right away when Dejan Kulusevski’s shot in the sixth minute deflected in off Chelsea defender Levi Colwill. The home team then attempted to build on their early dominance, but Son Heung-min’s strike was narrowly ruled out for offside.
Chelsea had two goals disallowed in a heated atmosphere; Moises Caicedo and Raheem Sterling both had one goal disallowed for offside and handball, respectively.
Even so, Romero’s rough challenge on fellow countryman Enzo Fernandez resulted in a penalty kick for Chelsea, and the Spurs defender was rightfully sent out as a result.
The summer addition to Chelsea Cole Palmer’s spot kick tied the game, but Spurs were further hindered by the appearance of serious injuries to crucial defender Micky van de Ven’s hamstring and James Maddison’s ankle, as both players were replaced before halftime.
Ten minutes after the half, referee Michael Oliver gave Spurs an even bigger blow when he sent Destiny Udogie out for an oddly careless tackle on Sterling that resulted in a second yellow card.
In the midst of the chaos, Ange Postecoglou, who was also given a yellow card on the Spurs bench, took a chance by trying to maintain a high line even with nine men, but with fifteen minutes remaining, Chelsea got through, with Raheem Sterling bursting free to set up Nicolas Jackson for an easy finish.
Though the match was far from over, Spurs had a great chance to force a tie when Eric Dier’s incredible effort was disallowed for a slight offside and Rodrigo Bentancur narrowly missed a late free-kick header after beating Chelsea’s defense.
Jackson added two more goals in stoppage time to complete a late hat-trick and make the scoreline much more comfortable than it had been for the visitors earlier in the evening.