Chelsea managed to beat Tottenham Hotspur with a score of 4-1 in the 11th week of the 2023-2024 Premier League, Monday (6/11/2023) local time. The Blues’ four goals were scored via hat tricks by Nicolas Jackson (75′, 90+4′ and 90+7′) and Cole Palmer (35′[p]).
However, in this match there were five VAR dramas and added time for a total of 21 minutes. Son Heung-min had doubled the score for Spurs to make it 2-0, but the goal was disallowed by the referee. After checking via VAR, Son was deemed offside.
In the 21st minute Raheem Sterling’s goal was disallowed. Via a VAR check, the English player was deemed to have had handball. Not only that, Moises Caicedo’s goal was also disallowed by the referee in the 28th minute.
Drama then occurred between the 27th and 35th minutes. It started with the Chelsea midfielder being fouled by Cristian Romero in the penalty box area. The referee then checked VAR and the result gave Romero a red card.
Spurs, who were 1-2 behind Chelsea in the 75th minute, had time to raise their hopes through Eric Dier’s sweet finish in the 79th minute, but it was again ruled out by VAR.
The Lilywhites had to play with nine players after Cristian Romero (33′) and Destiny Udogie (55′) were given a red card by Michael Oliver who served as referee. Tottenham Hotspur head coach, Ange Postecolgou, responded to the results achieved by the players.
“This is a difficult match to analyze, but in terms of will and determination, it was an extraordinary effort from the players. I think they gave everything they could, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough,” said Agne. “I think we started the game very well, scored a good goal, then we almost scored a good second goal, but it was offside,” he said. “Then, the game got out of control. There were a lot of things that happened that made the game a little bit out of the parameters we wanted. It felt like after that there were a lot of distractions,” he added.
Chelsea head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, also responded to the additional time which reached 21 minutes in the first and second half. “It’s very difficult, 20 minutes of added time is crazy. We need to review it a bit, but that’s to get a clear idea of how we can be better,” said Pochettino as quoted by Chelsea’s official website.
“I think now it’s about being smart and giving everything to recover the players. Sunday is another game against Man City and yes, now it’s not just about training, but also about recovering the players and setting expectations for that,” he said.
With this result, Spurs failed to displace Manchester City from the top of the 2023-2024 Premier League standings. The 10 match unbeaten record must be lost. Now, from the 11 matches played, Spurs have recorded 8 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat.
