By Jimmy
Five goals, another five disallowed, two red cards, plus the potential for several more, nine VAR checks, and an experimental nine-man high line that was probably a tactical world’s first… To say that Monday night’s London derby between Tottenham Hotspurs and Chelsea was wild and chaotic would be a massive understatement.
In fact, it just might go down as the wildest match in Premier League history, which eventually ended with three points for Chelsea in a 4-1 win at Tottenham.
If you didn’t watch the match, here’s what happened.
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How the match unfolded
It all started very well for Tottenham. Too well, in fact. Playing in what looked like a 2-5-3 formation, with full-backs inverting to join the midfielders, Spurs essentially fielded a five-man midfield that overwhelmed Chelsea’s two.
That numerical advantage was crucial, as it allowed the North London team to play through the lines with ease. It eventually paid off as they got the opener within five minutes; Dejan Kulusevski’s shot ricocheting off Levi Colwill’s back to wrongfoot Robert Sanchez. Spurs thought they’d doubled their lead through Son Heung-Min in the 14th minute after a sweeping move, but the forward was judged to have been offside.
It was just a testament to how dominant Tottenham were. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to last.
Things started to change in the 18th minute when Spurs’ full-back Destiny Udogie was shown a yellow card for a two-footed lunge that could have easily been a red had Raheem Sterling not pulled away at the last second. Three minutes later, Sterling had a goal disallowed for handball.
Then everything went turpsy-turvy in the 30th minute after a goal from Moises Caicedo was ruled out after Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson was judged to be in an offside position that obstructed the Spurs’ goalkeeper’s view. However, VAR put play on hold to check for a Cristian Romero foul on Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez in the box during the buildup; the result was a red card for the Spurs’ defender and a penalty for Chelsea.
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Injuries to James Maddison and Mickey van de Ven forced them off before half-time. And things got worse for Spurs 10 minutes after the break when Udogie was shown a second yellow card for another tackle on Sterling
Even with the scores level and two men down, Tottenham remained unbroken. Rather than stay compact and camp out in the box, Ange Postecoglou decided to go wild by fielding a high defensive line – as high as the midfield line – which left acres of space for Chelsea players to run through. Had it worked, it would have been one of the most ingenious moves in Premier League history.
And it almost did. Even though Chelsea kept sending those long passes through, Giancarlo Vicario was there, coming out to sweep it right back at them. And for those he couldn’t reach, the woeful ineptitude of Chelsea’s players in front of goal ensured the score stayed level until the 75th minute. Sterling timed his run perfectly, and played the ball across to Jackson for a neat finish.
Despite this, Spurs came close to an unlikely equalizer three times. Eric Dier’s brilliant volley from a free-kick was ruled out for offside, Rodrigo Bentacur nodded another free-kick wide and Son broke through, only to see his shot saved full-length. There were also plenty of VAR checks and stoppages which saw a combined additional time of 22 minutes added in each half.
43% – In last night's match between Tottenham and Chelsea, the ball was in play for just 43% of the total match time (47:57 of 111:15), the lowest percentage for any Premier League game over the last two seasons. Mayhem. pic.twitter.com/ZcHM7fT7i3
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 7, 2023
Eventually, Jackson struck twice in stoppage time to put the result to bed and complete his treble, becoming the third Chelsea player to net a top-flight hat trick against Spurs.
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A first defeat of the season means Spurs are second on 26 points, one behind defending champions Manchester City. Chelsea’s victory finally sees them break through the top half of the table, as they seat 10th with 15 points.
