Chelsea win seven-goal thriller at Spurs to close in on Liverpool.

Cole Palmer’s penalty double completed a remarkable 4-3 victory over Tottenham Hotspur as Chelsea moved within four points of Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Chelsea thumped nine-man Spurs 4-1 in the corresponding fixture last season but required an almighty fight back as Marc Cucurella‘s errors gifted the hosts an early 2-0 lead at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Dominic Solanke‘s well-taken opener and Dejan Kulusevski‘s pinpoint finish puts Spurs two goals up before Jadon Sancho reduced the arrears with a delightful finish.

Palmer levelled just past the hour mark with his first penalty, and after Enzo Fernandez had blasted the Blues ahead, Palmer won another spot-kick, which he coolly dinked beyond Fraser Forster.

Palmer now becomes the highest-scoring penalty taker in Premier League history with a 100 per cent conversation rate.

Son Heung-min’s stoppage-time strike teed up a nervy ending for Chelsea, but they held firm to move two points clear of Arsenal in second and make ground on Liverpool, while Spurs sit 11th after a second defeat in the space of three days.

How the match unfolded

Cucurella’s untimely slip near the halfway line allowed Brennan Johnson to burst down the right, and Solanke stretched in front of Levi Colwill to fire Spurs into the fifth-minute lead from the winger’s low cross.

Pedro Porro nipped in when Cucurella again lost his footing just six minutes later, before Kulusevski cut inside and picked out the bottom-right corner with a pinpoint finish.

Sancho halved the deficit when darting inside and drilling home via the help of the right-hand post, and the Chelsea comeback began.

Yves Bissouma‘s challenge on Moises Caicedo saw Palmer level from 12 yards in the 61st minute, and Fernandez then hammered past the helpless Forster to put Chelsea ahead.

The Spurs goalkeeper was left on the floor when Palmer – fouled by Sarr for the second spot-kick – chipped his 84th-minute penalty down the middle, as Son’s late goal from James Maddison‘s cutback pass proved a mere consolation.

A damaging defeat for Postecoglou

Some Spurs supporters made their frustrations clear after the 1-0 defeat to AFC Bournemouth on Thursday, leaving Ange Postecoglou needing a response in this London derby.

Spurs wasted no time in providing exactly that, twice pressing high to punish their sloppy visitors and surge into a two-goal lead thanks to Cucurella’s blunders.

They should have added a third goal before the half-hour mark through either Destiny Udogie or Son, whose left-sided corner then saw Sarr flick a header against the crossbar.

Another Son delivery could have made it 3-1 too, but Solanke diverted straight at Robert Sanchez with a tame effort just minutes after Sarr’s opportunity.

A plethora of issues remain in defence, however, as Cristian Romero – who limped off after just 15 minutes – and Micky van de Ven‘s returns did little to protect Spurs’ struggling backline.

Forster was regularly exposed to a barrage of Chelsea attempts, impressing with a few fine stops, but his resistance was ultimately broken by Bissouma’s needless lunge after Sancho sent Caicedo bursting into the box.

Spurs’ defence was again all over the place when the in-form Fernandez fired Chelsea into the lead, before Sarr’s inexplicable push from behind on Palmer capped a woeful collapse and left Postecoglou searching for answers ahead of their next league outing, which comes against struggling Southampton next Sunday.

Chelsea carnage turns into celebration

Enzo Maresca‘s possession-based philosophy has been clear throughout the early parts of his Chelsea tenure and has proved successful – but an error-laden first half showed the risks to the strategy.

Benoit Badiashile set the tone for an unconvincing start, and while Kulusevski could not punish the centre-back’s misplaced pass, Johnson did exactly that after Cucurella, who subsequently changed boots, slipped in the build-up to both Spurs goals.

Cucurella somewhat made amends as his simple pass teed up a sumptuous finish by Sancho, who then laid it on a plate for Palmer – only for Chelsea’s talisman to fluff a gilt-edged chance to equalise – while Caicedo was perhaps fortunate to escape punishment when he lunged in on Sarr, though the VAR confirmed the referee’s call of no serious four play.

Palmer almost atoned for that glaring miss but his rasping drive was pushed away by Forster, who denied Pedro Neto‘s follow-up attempt, before the Spurs goalkeeper produced an impressive stretching stop to deny Sancho in the second half.

But Chelsea eventually roared into the ascendancy thanks to the brilliance of ice-cold Palmer after the break, and Spurs’ defence could not cope once the Blues hit their stride.

Maresca, who will now want to see more steadfast defending from his team, continues to insist Chelsea are not in the title race, but this comeback leaves the Blues within touching distance of Liverpool ahead of hosting Brentford next Sunday.

Club reports

Spurs report | Chelsea report

What the managers said

Ange Postecoglou: “It’s a sore one for sure, it’s painful. We started the game really well and then we lose Cristian Romero and we had to reshuffle. We still had some big moments to get a third and finish it off. The second half was a ding-dong for long and then they scored. The two penalties weren’t great, we need a bit of discipline in the box.”

Enzo Maresca: “On the ball I think, even when we conceded the two goals, we were playing very good. The team was playing very good and then second half, up until he last five minutes we conceded nothing at all and created chances. We deserved to win the game.”

Next Premier League fixtures

Key facts

This was the 11th time that Spurs lost a Premier League game after having been 2+ goals ahead – at least four more such defeats than any other side in the competition’s history. It was also the first time they did so at home in the league since a 5-3 loss at home to Manchester United in September 2001.

Chelsea came from two goals behind to win a Premier League game for the fifth time, and the first since April 2018 against Southampton (3-2). They were the first side to come from two goals behind to win a London derby in the competition since Arsenal against Spurs in February 2012 (5-2).

Cole Palmer reached 50 goal involvements (33 goals, 17 assists) in 48 Premier League games for Chelsea; only Erling Haaland for Man City (39), Andrew Cole for Newcastle (43), and Mohamed Salah for Liverpool (46) have ever reached that total in fewer appearances for a club in the competition.

Chelsea have won eight of their last 10 away matches in the Premier League (D1 L1), more than their previous 31 on the road in the league beforehand (W7 D9 L15). Indeed, the Blues now have more away points in the competition in 2024/25 than any other side, with 19.

(EPL)