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Chelsea made a stunning return to winning ways by inflicting a 4-1 loss on Tottenham in their recent Premier League clash. The bout made headlines for a lot of controversial reasons but also highlighted the stellar performance of new signing Cole Palmer, who received huge acclaim from fans.
The match started off as a nightmare for the Blues, with Dejan Kulusevski putting Tottenham ahead in the sixth minute itself. Chelsea also saw three of their goals getting ruled out by VAR for various offenses. Nevertheless, the night soon redeemed itself for Mauricio Pochettino's army, as Tottenham were dealt with two injuries, two red cards, and two disallowed goals through the 90 minutes.
While Nicolas Jackson bagged most of the attention owing to his late hat trick, fans were quick to pick out Cole Palmer, who delivered an all-round performance. The Manchester City academy graduate leveled the score for Chelsea from the spot and also provided an assist. Moreover, Palmer attempted 51 passes with an impressive accuracy rate of 80% and also provided three pin-point long balls.
His heroics did not go unnoticed as Chelsea fans took to social media to show appreciation for their summer signing. One of the fans hailed his transfer by saying,
What a player Cole Palmer is. We hit the jackpot.
Another one stated,
Cole Palmer made it look easy. This boy is special.
Chelsea's unexpected win over a high-flying Tottenham meant that the Lilywhites have now lost eight games in 12 attempts against the Blues in the last five years. The disappointing result also marked the first Premier League loss for Spurs in the Ange Postecoglu era. Consequently, they failed to reclaim the top spot in the league, losing it to Manchester City.
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino received praise from Jamie Carragher for his half-time strategy
The first half of the game was filled with multiple breathtaking moments that ended up affecting both sides. While Tottenham got the shorter end of the stick, with a disallowed Heung-min Son goal and a sending-off for Cristian Romero, the Blues also had their fair share of concerns.
Apart from other VAR-influenced events, Levi Colwill's heated demeanor towards the end of the first half threatened to reduce Chelsea to 10 men. Following a routine foul, Colwill got involved in a scuffle with Tottenham's Pape Matar Sarr, leading to a booking.
Pochettino took notice and strategically replaced him with Marc Cucurella in the second half. His decision to ensure the structure of his team was applauded by footballer-turned-pundit Jamie Carragher, who stated (via Football London),
Chelsea will win the game if they keep 11 men on the pitch. That's a brilliant decision from Pochettino.
The Blues went on to benefit from the advantage of having more players on the pitch as they exploited the Lilywhites' high line to bag three late goals. Consequently, their summer signing Nicolas Jackson also ended up bagging his first hat trick for his new club.
