Chelsea 1-0 Spurs
by Layth Yousif
at Stamford Bridge 

A second half header by Enzo Fernandez from a Cole Palmer cross was enough to move Chelsea back into the top four, after beating Spurs 1-0 in a pulsating match in SW6 on Thursday evening. 

Yet it was the bizarre actions of beleaguered Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou in baiting the club’s traveling support, that looked like the last rites on his managerial reign would be arriving soon. 

A manager once so feted by Spurs fans, now appears to be at breaking point, with his underwhelming team from N17 now winless in four, remaining anchored in a miserable 14th position – and set to finish outside the top ten for the first time since 2008.

In a crackling atmosphere, underlining the enmity between the two sets of supporters in this bitter cross London rivalry, barely had the pre-match strains of the Liquidator died down than Chelsea had hit the post, albeit through Spurs’ Micky Van de Ven, after Guglielmo Vicario had saved from the fit again Nicolas Jackson.

The visitors swept forward with Son Heung-Min testing Blues keeper Robert Sanchez, who was equal to the task. 

In a pulsating start, moments later, at the other end, Chelsea’s Malo Gusto fired just wide of Sanchez’s near post. 

The Blues were glad to also welcome back Palmer and Noni Madueke, even if boss Maresca made the surprising decision to bench club captain Reece James, back from England duty. 

It was noticeable James’ Three Lions colleague Palmer put the shaky Vicario under pressure with balls into the box, that perplexingly, the former Brighton keeper invariably opted to punch.

In a lively start, punctuated by cries of ‘We Want Levy Out’ from the travelling contingent, Chelsea went close, but skipper for the evening, Fernandez’ effort was foiled on the line by Destiny Udogie in the 19th minute. 

While Maresca might have cancelled a day off for his players in the week, there was no lack of effort against the Lilywhites, with the home side pressing high and forcing glaring errors from the North Londoners, most notably with Vicario ceding possession. No wonder boss Maresca insisted after the match that his team were in “control” of the match. 

Jackson fired over as we approached the half hour, with the tempo relentless. We even had a burst of firecrackers as the soundtrack for a short spell. 

Jadon Sancho tested Vicario moments before the break, with the Spurs keeper pulling off a superb save from the Manchester United loanee. That was prior to a melee involving the majority of the players, after Cristian Romero squared up to Trevor Chalobah, the Chelsea academy graduate furious after the Argentine threw Chalobah's Blues colleague Levi Colwill to the floor, which saw both players eventually booked for their misdemeanours, in what was an unintended nod to the fractious 2016 Battle of the Bridge. 

Five minutes after the break, Palmer forced a low save from Vicario. The ball came back to the former Manchester City attacker who sent in an exquisite cross for Fernandez to nod past the Spurs keeper to put Chelsea 1-0 up. Ironically moments after the visiting support started singing: “Can’t smile without you…” their paean to long-suffering underachievement. 

That was before Moises Caicedo fired past Vicario as the Bridge erupted, only for VAR - after a scandalously inordinate amount of time - ruled that Colwill was marginally offside. 

Despite the momentary fortune, the travelling Spurs fans were in no mood for niceties, singing: “You don’t know what you’re doing,’ to boss Postecoglou after he switched Lucas Bergvall for Pape Sarr. 

Just as the ‘Time for change’ yellow flags in the away end were being raised, Spurs thought that they had levelled. 

However, Tottenham fans went from celebrating to what they thought was an equaliser, to watching Sarr's strike being ruled out, after referee Craig Pawson correctly adjudged the player fouled Caicedo in the build-up, prior to Pawson then booking Sarr for the foul. 

Amid the drama, Spurs boss Postecoglou was seen cupping his ear to the away fans in a defiant gesture, that hardly spoke of unity ahead of their season defining Europa League clash with Eintracht Frankfurt next week. 

Yet speaking after the match, the visibly irritated Australian batted away his reaction, by saying: ""Jeez mate, it's incredible how things get interpreted. We'd just scored, I just wanted to hear them cheer. Because we'd been through a tough time, and I thought it was a cracking goal.

“It doesn't bother me. It's not the first time they've booed my substitutions or my decisions. That's fine, they're allowed to do that…but we'd just scored a goal, just scored an equaliser, I was just hoping we could get some excitement. If people want to read into that that somehow I'm trying to make a point about something, like I said, we'd been through a tough time, but I just felt there was a bit of a momentum shift there.”

Shortly afterwards, Palmer rubbed it in, by kicking the ball away, then chasing after it. Before picking it up, then dropping it behind him. Referee Pawson certainly wasn’t impressed, duly booking the Chelsea attacker, which prompted an ironic thumbs up from the England attacker. 

As the clock ticked down, Sanchez saved Chelsea after a sweeping Spurs move saw the ball squared to Son, who yards out, proceeding to fire the ball at the Blues keeper, who spread himself magnificently to block, and keep the score 1-0 to Chelsea. 

With 12 additional minutes announced, Maresca hooked Palmer, much to his annoyance, as the forward came off reluctantly, in frustration and disbelief, more than anger.

But, in truth, as Chelsea hone in on a coveted Champions League place, public and private angst is very much Tottenham’s problem right now.