Chelsea have condemned London rivals Tottenham Hotspur to their first Premier League defeat of the season after coming from behind to win 4-1 on a naughty night in North London.
An astonishingly evening of chaos and carnage began with a 57-minute-long first half – including 12 minutes of stoppage time – that contained two goals, four more disallowed for offside, one red card and two players forced off through injury.
Dejan Kulusevski's deflected opener was cancelled out by a Cole Palmer penalty after Cristian Romero was sent off for a reckless challenge inside the area following one of many VAR reviews at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs were reduced to nine men just 10 minutes after the break after Destiny Udogie received two yellow cards, before Nicolas Jackson netted three goals in the final 20 minutes, amid more goals disallowed for offside at both ends, to help Chelsea claim maximum points in an all-time Premier League classic on Mauricio Pochettino's return to his former club.
Chelsea have climbed into the top half of the table after beating Tottenham, who have seen their 10-game unbeaten start in the Premier League under new manager Ange Postecoglou come to an end; Spurs subsequently remain second and one point adrift of reigning champions Manchester City at the summit.
Postecoglou made two changes to the Tottenham side that beat Crystal Palace last weekend, with Udogie passing a late fitness test to come in for Ben Davies at left-back, while attacker Brennan Johnson was handed just his second Premier League start of the season at the expense of Richarlison.
As for Chelsea, Pochettino made three changes to the starting lineup that beat Blackburn Rovers in the EFL Cup last week, with Levi Colwill, Thiago Silva and Moises Caicedo all coming in for Marc Cucurella, Benoit Badiashile and Lesley Ugochukwu.
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Chelsea would have hoped to settle down the home supporters and frustrate Spurs in the opening exchanges, but the Blues found themselves a goal down inside the first six minutes courtesy of a deflected strike from Kulusevski.
The Swedish winger found himself in acres of space down the right flank and was able to cut inside before firing a shot towards goal that took a wicked deflection off the back of Colwill as it travelled into the bottom corner.
However, Chelsea responded well after conceding and almost restored parity in the 11th minute, but Guglielmo Vicario denied Jackson with a strong left hand after the Chelsea striker did brilliantly to sit a couple of Spurs defenders on their backsides and generate a decent chance inside the box.
Son Heung-min thought that he had doubled Spurs' lead at the other end, tapping home from close range following a superb sweeping move from the hosts, but the South Korean was marginally ruled offside following a VAR review.
The VAR officials were regularly called into action throughout the first half, and Udogie did well to escape a red card following a reckless two-footed challenge on Raheem Sterling despite winning the ball, and that tackle changed the tone of the game in Chelsea's favour.
Romero was also at risk of receiving red when he appeared to petulantly kick out at Colwill during an off-the-ball incident, before Sterling wriggled his way into the box and place a shot beyond Vicario, only to be denied a leveller by VAR as the ball struck the Chelsea forward's arm in the build-up.
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Shortly after the half-hour mark, Chelsea's club-record signing Caicedo was then denied his first Blues goal - hitting a rocket right-footed strike from the edge of the area into the bottom corner - as Jackson, who was stood in an offside position, was deemed to be interfering with play.
However, the drama continued to unfold, as VAR advised on-field referee Michael Oliver to head over to the pitchside monitor to assess another nasty challenge in the build-up to Caicedo's strike, this time from Romero who followed through with a high boot when challenging Enzo Fernandez inside the penalty area.
Oliver opted to point to the spot and handed Romero a straight red card, before Palmer – who had scored two penalties in his previous three Premier League appearances – converted the resulting spot kick on the 35-minute mark, squeezing a left-footed strike in off the post despite the best efforts of Vicario who got his fingertips to the shot.
Things went from bad to worse for Spurs as an unsavoury grown echoed round the stadium when centre-back Micky van de Ven pulled up with a hamstring injury before being carried down the tunnel, while chief creator James Maddison – another standout summer signing – was also forced off with an ankle problem.
Eric Dier, who was brought on following the dismissal of Romero, was partnered by Emerson Royal at centre-back, while Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg strengthened Postecoglou's midfield in the absence of Maddison.
Chelsea needlessly lost their heads in the closing stages of the first half, with Colwill booked for a heated confrontation with Pape Matar Sarr, before Reece James avoided punishment for a raised elbow during an aerial challenge with Udogie.
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The frantic nature of the thrilling contest showed no signs of slowing down after the break, and Tottenham's hopes of restoring parity were made all the more difficult when Udogie received his second yellow card on the 55-minute mark for a late tackle on Sterling, again, following a dangerous-looking three-versus-two counter-attack by Chelsea.
Jackson missed a sitter from the resulting free kick, with James initially feeding Sterling down the right before he set up Chelsea's No.15 for a close-ranger header, but his tame effort was somehow directed over the crossbar by Hojbjerg standing on the goalline.
Tottenham had Vicario to thank in the second half as the Italian made a number of crucial saves to keep the scores one apiece, firstly making a double stop to deny Jackson and Palmer before keeping out substitute Cucurella who could only fling a weak right-footed effort on target after racing through on goal.
While Vicario deserved plenty of plaudits, Chelsea continued to threaten Tottenham's extremely high line and their persistence in the final third eventually paid off in the 75th minute when Sterling beat the offside trap before expertly setting up Jackson for a simple first-time finish from around eight yards out.
Just three minutes later, Dier thought that he had restored parity for the hosts with a marvelous side-footed volley from a tight angle, but the defender was caught offside, before Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was at full stretch to keep out a huge chance form Son in the closing stages.
The West Londoners then caught Spurs on the break and sealed the victory in the fourth minute of stoppage time, with Jackson meeting a Conor Gallagher cross to tap home his second of the night.
Jackson then completed his hat-trick and increased his Premier League goal tally to five in the 97th minute, rounding Vicario and slotting home another close-range finish, after Chelsea carved through Tottenham's backline like a knife through butter, to cap a remarkable night in North London - one for the Blues to remember and for the Lilywhites to forget.
Chelsea will now turn their attention to Sunday's Premier League fixture against Man City, while Spurs will endeavour to return to winning ways when they take on Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on Saturday.
Oliver Thomas
