Enzo Fernandez headed home Cole Palmer's cross five minutes into the second half to give Chelsea a massively important 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on Thursday.
WATCH – Chelsea vs Spurs full match replay
The result sends Chelsea (52 points) back up to 4th in the Premier League table, once again two points clear in the UEFA Champions League chase, with eight games left to play. Spurs (34 points), meanwhile, remain 14th after suffering their 16th defeat in 30 league games this season.
Chelsea nearly scored inside the opening 60 seconds as Micky van de Ven's clearance ricocheted off Nicolas Jackson's shin and hit the post, and again just seconds before halftime if not for Guglielmo Vicario's soaring save to deny Jadon Sancho. By the time Fernandez put Chelsea ahead and Palmer registered his first goal involvement in 10 games (all competitions), Spurs had attempted two shots for a grand total of 0.12 xG. By the time Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made wide-sweeping substitutions to lock the game up defensively around 80 minutes, Spurs were up to 0.22 on three attempts.
Robert Sanchez was called into action and made a fantastic stop to deny Heung-min Son's sliding effort — Spurs' only clear-cut chance in the game — in the 89th minute. Both sides had a goal ruled out by video review — Chelsea first, which would have put the game well beyond reach in the 56th — and tempers flared on more than one occasion, as they tend to do when these sides meet, but the result itself was hardly ever in doubt from the opening whistle.
What’s (not) the matter with Tottenham Hotspur?
Reading between the lines, it seems quite clear that Postecoglou will be fired this summer (or if/when Spurs are knocked out of the Europa League), yet Thursday's defeat raised more concerns than who is in charge and what the tactics are. (Just when you think it can't get any worse: If this was indeed what happened here, none of the below matters. Well, it does, but not in terms of his employment.) Aside from Arsenal, there is no side that Spurs supporters want to beat more than Chelsea, yet you couldn't see it in the actions of a single player wearing white. Where was the fight? Where was the desire? Where was a shred of desperation? Where was anything besides feeble acceptance? The team and club is completely devoid of leaders at the moment, whether it be loud, in-your-face rah-rah, or the silent, lead-by-example type — perhaps the most underrated part of Harry Kane's departure nearly two years ago — and that becomes clearer with each passing defeat that trudges down the same well-worn path 90 painful minutes at a time.
