Chelsea defeated Tottenham 2-0 in the compensation match of round 26 of the Premier League, thereby raising hopes of competing for the Europa League.
With goals scored by Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson, Chelsea won at home against fellow city team Tottenham. This result extends the away team’s dismal record at Stamford Bridge, having won just one match in 34 visits.
Chelsea defeated Tottenham in the compensation match (Photo: Getty).
After coming back from a 2-goal deficit to win an impressive draw against Aston Villa last weekend, Chelsea appeared full of confidence entering the match with Tottenham, a team showing signs of a form crisis after losing. The last 2 matches in the Premier League.
The home team created scoring opportunities early in the first half of the first half. However, the goal did not come early, Jackson could not beat Vicario in a face-to-face situation or Mudryk shot out from a convenient position in the penalty area.
The home team continued to search for a breakthrough, their attacking intentions paid off in the 24th minute when Chalobah brilliantly headed into the far corner after captain Gallagher’s free kick. Chelsea took a 1-0 lead.
Chalobah celebrates after scoring (Photo: Getty).
The opening goal continued to cheer Chelsea’s spirit, the home team continued to create an overwhelming position with clear scoring opportunities. In the 32nd minute, Mudryk shot the ball wide of the post after good coordination from Palmer.
Facing Chelsea’s dominance, the away team missed a great opportunity to equalize before the break, when Romero wasted a close-range header wastefully wide of the goal in the 39th minute.
Entering the second half, Tottenham was determined to rise strongly. Postecoglou’s team needed a victory to maintain their fragile hope of winning tickets to the Champions League, so they showed a completely different look compared to the first 45 minutes. However, Tottenham’s shooting accuracy was very low, so it did not pose much danger to Petrovic’s goal.
Tottenham rallied in the second half (Photo: Getty).
Actively playing defense, Chelsea did not attack much in the second half, but Pochettino’s team was the team that scored the very important goal of the match. In the 72nd minute, Jackson headed into the far corner after Palmer’s great free kick, increasing the score to 2-0.
The Blues’ second goal almost extinguished Tottenham’s hope of a comeback. The home team played solidly for the remainder of the match to successfully defend their home victory. This is Chelsea’s 8th win in the last 11 matches at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. That is an encouraging number when Chelsea’s overall performance is still unstable.
After 34 matches, Tottenham has 60 points, ranked 5th and 7 points behind the team above Aston Villa. Postecoglou and his team’s hope of entering the top 4 is not much. Chelsea has 51 points after 34 matches, ranking 8th and 3 points behind 6th ranked team Man Utd. The opportunity for the Blues to compete for a spot in the Europa League is still open when there are 4 matches left in the season.
