Chelsea on Monday ended nine-man Tottenham Hotspur’s unbeaten start to the English Premier League season as Nicolas Jackson’s hat-trick inspired a 4-1 win in a chaotic clash filled with video assistant referee (VAR) drama.
Blues manager Mauricio Pochettino was able to savor a sweet victory over Tottenham on his first return to the club since his sacking in 2019, but the Argentine’s revenge mission was overshadowed by an incredible litany of controversial incidents including red cards for Tottenham duo Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie.
Dejan Kulusevski had given Tottenham an early lead, but Romero was dismissed for a foul that led to Cole Palmer’s equalizer from the penalty spot before halftime.
Photo: Reuters
Referee Michael Oliver and the over-worked VAR officials sent off Udogie soon after the break for his second booking.
Both teams had goals disallowed by VAR, while Tottenham’s misfortune also included losing England playmaker James Maddison and Dutch defender Micky van de Ven to first-half injuries.
Chelsea finally made the most of their numerical advantage when Senegal striker Jackson netted three times in the closing stages to hand Tottenham their first defeat in 11 league games.
Tottenham remain in second place, one point behind leaders Manchester City, while Chelsea moved up to 10th place after their first win in three league games.
“There will be a forensic study of every decision out there, I think that is the way the game is going and I don’t like it,” Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said. “If you look at all that standing around we did today, maybe people enjoy that sort of thing, but I’d rather see us playing football.”
Pochettino was given a largely warm reception by Tottenham fans in recognition of a five-year reign that included taking them to their maiden UEFA Champions League final.
However, there could be no doubting his pleasure at inflicting a first league defeat on his former employers this term, especially given the extraordinary circumstances of one of the Premier League’s most incendiary matches.
“The technology is there and we need to accept. Many things happen on the pitch and you need to verify and check,” Pochettino said. “We deserve the credit. Tottenham are doing fantastic, but tonight we were the better team.”
Tottenham had made the perfect start in the sixth minute when Kulusevski unleashed a powerful shot that deflected in off Levi Colwill. They were fortunate not to be reduced to 10 men when Udogie was only booked after VAR looked at his reckless two-footed lunge on Raheem Sterling.
Sterling and Tottenham’s Son Heung-min both had goals disallowed by VAR for handball and offside respectively.
An already heated encounter approached boiling point after Romero escaped a red card for kicking out at Colwill. It was a short-lived reprieve for Romero, as the Tottenham defender saw red in the 33rd minute.
When Moises Caicedo’s blast from the edge of the area beat Guglielmo Vicario, VAR ruled Jackson was offside but still came to Chelsea’s aid.
As the VAR check went on, Romero’s challenge on Enzo Fernandez just before Caicedo’s shot was adjudged to be a penalty, with the defender dismissed for his studs-up follow-through on the Chelsea midfielder’s shin.
Palmer’s spot-kick was almost saved by Vicario, but it had enough power to elude his grasp as it went in via the post.
Udogie had flirted with a red card earlier in the game and he finally got his marching orders in the 55th minute for a crude lunge on Sterling.
That set the stage for a Chelsea siege as Spurs played a high defensive line, allowing the visitors to get behind them.
Chelsea landed the knockout blow in the 75th minute when Sterling raced away down the right and his cross was slotted home by Jackson.
Even then, Tottenham commendably kept fighting and Eric Dier was denied by a VAR-ruled offside before Rodrigo Bentancur headed inches wide and Sanchez saved from Son.
The carnage climaxed in stoppage-time when Jackson fired home from Conor Gallagher’s cross, then ran clear to condemn Tottenham to a rare defeat.
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946