LONDON: The recovery came quickly for Chelsea from the shock of conceding two goals within the first 11 minutes to eventually emerge 4-3 winners in this London derby against Tottenham Hotspur. With just four points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool — who have a game in hand — Chelsea fans consider their side to be contenders for the league title.
Chelsea manager, Enzo Maresca, however, feels differently. He said: “To be serious, we are not ready but we focus on trying to improve. The fans can dream because from the outside, it is quite clear, inside the reality is we are not ready.”
He was full of praise for his star player Cole Palmer who is the first Premier League player to score 12 times from the spot without ever missing one. His performance has been excellent throughout the season and he has already placed himself for the player of the year award.
Maresca said: “Cole belongs to that group who are not normal players — they are top players. They do things that are not normal and we say, ‘How do they do that?” It’s because it’s Cole and he is top and we can expect that from Cole.”
He further added: “To come to this stadium against this team and then concede two goals and continue in the same plan shows how the players in this moment are mentally strong.”
This fast paced game began with Spurs going into the lead after just five minutes. It came in a rapid counter attack in which Marc Cucurella made the first of his two costly slips allowing Brennan Johnson to speed down the right and cross to the near post for Dominic Solanki to stroke into the net.
Six minute later, Spurs doubled the lead when another slip by Cucurella (who soon changed his boots) gave space to Dejan Kulusevski who beat three defenders before shooting left-footed, low in the near corner.
Chelsea responded quickly and cut the deficit with Jadon Sancho’s shot from 20 yards going in off the post. A quarter of an hour into the second half, Chelsea found the equaliser. Moises Caicedo was tripped in the box by Yves Bissouma and Palmer hammered in the penalty.
Chelsea were lucky that Caicedo was not sent off before they equalised. His high boot on Sarr’s shin was reckless but he was not even shown a yellow card despite a check by VAR.
Chelsea went into he lead in the 73rd minute with Palmer dribbling past there players before his deflected pass went to Enzo Fernandez for a fine left-footed half volley shot. That lead was then extended to 4-2 with another penalty to Chelsea when Sarr lunged into Palmer who converted the spot kick with a delightful, ice-cool chip sending the goalkeeper the wrong way in the 84th minute.
Spurs got a consolation goal in the 6th minute of added time when Heung-Min Son scored from a James Maddison pass.
Spurs manager, Ange Postecoglou, said: “I don’t see them (his team) lacking confidence and belief but both penalties were out of desperation. They’re desperate to turn it around. There’s still plenty to play for between now and January to make sure we keep performing.”
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
