Chelsea (Away) 02.05.2024

With Ben Davies and Destiny Udogie both ruled out, Emerson Royal filled in the left back berth, with Bissouma and Sarr in the defensive midfield positions and Werner’s hamstring injury giving Brennan Johnson a start on the left with Kulusevski in the middle and Sonny going left behind Richarlison up top.

Chelsea kicked off and almost took the lead after four minutes.  Jackson was put through and as Vicario came out to meet him, could only half stop the shot that got under and through him, but Micky van de Ven raced back to clear from in front of the line, hitting Palmer, who missed from four yards out, lifting it over the bar when he should have scored.  Spurs were facing a lot of pressure as they tried to play out and Mudryk took on Romero when they won the ball from the goal-kick, but sliced his shot wide from the left.  We did get forward in the next attack, with Cucerella blocking Johnson’s shot from 20 yards out, then in the tenth minute there was a shout for a Spurs penalty when Madueke pulled Emerson’s arm as he ran into the area beyond him, but the ref decided there wasn’t enough in it. 

Chelsea won two quick corners, but Spurs defended them well, despite Madueke trying to stand on Vicario, but then Spurs got going forward and Johnson flashed a low ball along the six yard line that Petrovic got a hand to before it was cleared.  It wasn’t quite end to end stuff, more of an attack when someone managed to break through the midfield battle zone, but Mudryk ran a long way with the ball, stumbling through challenges until he ran out of pitch and nudged a soft shot at Vicario.  Chelsea had two men on Royal when a cross-field pass picked out Madueke and he ignored the run of Gilchrist to cut inside and wrap his foot around a shot that went just over the bar.  A foul by Royal 30 yards out brought a free-kick that saw Spurs concede from a set-piece once again.  Gallagher played it in towards the far post, Cucerella blocked off Johnson and Chalobah rose to head it back where it had come from and over Vicario to score.  It was checked for offside, but I’m not sure why it took so long, as Chalobah ran from a deep position, but then they looked at Cucerella’s blocking as a foul, although they didn’t give that either.

Tottenham’s attacking was a little bit chaotic and untidy, so there was little to threaten the Chelsea goal and the opponents were much more fluid, creating a chance for Mudryk to come inside to curl a shot at goal that went a yard wide.  After Ange raged at the players to pass the ball forward, the flow of the game did change a bit, with Spurs getting into the Chelsea half more and Richarlison was dragged down to the right of the penalty area for a free-kick that Porro planted onto Romero’s head, but he put his header wide from a few yards out.  As we entered added time, Romero sent Johnson away and he pulled the ball back low to Pape Matar Sarr around the penalty spot, but his shot was deflected wide by Chalobah.  Johnson then put in a cross that came off Cucerella and forced Petrovic to dive to his left to grasp it as he changed direction quickly.

The second half began with Tottenham attacking and after a couple of blocked shots, Sarr put a fast low ball into the goalmouth, but Petrovic got it away off his wrist and then Son’s cross was deflected wide for a corner.  There was the usual pushing and shoving and Cucerella went down although that was always likely to happen.  When Romero gave the ball away with a loose pass to the right back position, Mudryk could only loft the ball into Vicario’s hands with Jackson free in the middle of the box.  They did a bit better from a quick throw that made a shooting chance for Palmer, but he got under the ball and sent it way over the bar.  Son and Kulusevski worked a good position down the left and the ball into Richarlison at the near post was put out for a corner.  

The Chelsea crowd were quiet as the Spurs fans belted out “When The Spurs Go Marching In” with Chelsea being pushed onto the back foot.  When Sarr won the ball in midfield, Spurs launched forward and Porro fired a low ball into the box that the keeper repelled, but we kept the ball going forward until Royal shot over the bar.  Postecoglou brought off Sarr, Bissouma and Richarlison for Maddison, Bentancur and Hojbjerg, with Pierre having a shot straight away, but although the keeper had to dive to his left, it lacked power and was collected simply enough.  After Spurs had a shot from van de Ven from a cleared corner, Micky took a booking for bringing down Jackson on the halfway line as Chelsea broke, although it was a speedy break that saw Romero play the ball out from the box to Bentancur, then Maddison flicked it on to Son and he moved it left to Johnson, but his ball across the face of goal couldn’t pick out a white shirt.

Chelsea were taking lots of time over every free-kick, goal-kick and throw-on as they tried to take the pressure off their own goal.  Cucerella was adjudged to have been fouled by Kulusevski, although any time anyone goes near him he goes down and Palmer took it from 25 yards out, the ball bouncing down off the crossbar with Vicario committed to going for it.  It was up in the air and Jackson was free to head it to the opposite side of the goal to the keeper, where neither Hojbjerg or Romero were able to reach it.  

Spurs could have got back into the game straight away, with Hojbjerg popping up on the right of the box to sweep the ball across the area, where Johnson topped his shot that went weakly wide.  Chelsea fans had suddenly found their voice but went quiet when a blocked cross went up into the air and saw substitute Caseidei smash into Romero in the area, but nothing was given.  Bryan Gil came on for Johnson and linked well with Royal down the left, but Emerson’s final ball was taken by Petrovic at the near post.  A long period of passing around the 80 minute mark ended with Maddison curling a cross beyond everyone and off for a goal-kick. 

Vicario pushed a Palmer free-kick over the bar, although it might have been going there anyway and while Gil was trying to go past a man on the left, he wasn’t able to go past three and regularly got blocked off.  Bentancur tried a low shot from outside the box, but it was an easy save, but Gallagher was forced to make a last ditch intervention when Rodrigo and Bryan exchanged passes and Bentancur was closing in on goal in the six-yard box.  From the corner, there were a couple of blocked shots and claims for handball as the ball ended up at Maddison’s feet and he tried to bend one in at the far post, but it went out off a defender for a corner.  Hojbjerg then had a shot charged down when a cross was flicked on to him in space inside the left corner of the box and when Son was on the right and played a square pass to Bentancur, he side-footed his shot wide of the goal from about fifteen yards out.

With added time running down, it all got a bit frantic with Chelsea packing their defence and Maddison hitting a shot over the bar, a cross hitting a Chelsea player and handball shouts going up, then Bryan put a cross off the pitch, although it might have been a shot … it was hard to tell.

Unsurprisingly, Chelsea raised their game from their 0-5 thrashing at the Gooners and on the balance of play and ability to take chances, they probably deserved the three points, but it was a better second half performance, as it usually is with us, but once more we couldn’t pull the game back.  Three defeats on the spin and Liverpool waiting on Sunday doesn’t give a lot of hope for our Champions League ambitions, but the re-arranged games being moved to what was a tough set of matches anyway hasn’t helped when we are suffering injuries to key players in key positions and are not playing at our best either.

We travel with hope, but that might be about all at the moment.

Purcell Cole

• Tottenham wore black armbands as a mark of respect for the death of Terry Medwin.