Cole Palmer scored twice from the penalty spot as Chelsea roared again from being two objectives down after 11 minutes to beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 away in a frenzied London derby and shut the hole with Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday.
Two comical slips by Chelsea full again Marc Cucurella led to Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski giving the hosts a dream begin however their pleasure turned to despair because the guests confirmed why they need to be thought-about title contenders.
Jadon Sancho rifled in a shot after 17 minutes to present Chelsea momentum and Palmer equalised from the spot simply previous the hour mark as Chelsea dominated the second interval.
Enzo Fernández powered dwelling a shot to place Chelsea forward and Palmer successfully wrapped it up together with his second penalty late on earlier than Son Heung-Min scored a stoppage-time comfort objective.
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Chelsea are in second place with 31 factors from 15 video games, 4 factors behind Liverpool whose recreation at Everton was postponed due to excessive winds on Saturday.
Tottenham’s second defeat of the week left them in eleventh place with 20 factors and the stress mounting on supervisor Ange Postecoglou whose trigger was not helped by shedding centre again Cristian Romero to damage early on.
“It’s a sore one for certain, it is painful. We began the sport rather well after which we lose Cristian Romero and we needed to reshuffle,” the Australian, whose facet have twice misplaced having led 2-0 this season, informed Sky Sports.
“The momentum shifted fairly rapidly.”
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has performed down the title possibilities of his expensively-assembled squad who at the moment are unbeaten in seven video games and have gained their final 4 Premier League matches. They are additionally prime scorers within the division with 35 objectives and in Palmer have a participant on the peak of his powers.
He now has 50 objective involvements (33 objectives and 17 assists) in 48 Premier League video games for the London membership since becoming a member of from Manchester City.
“The first 10 or quarter-hour we conceded two simple objectives however general we have been accountable for the sport,” Maresca mentioned. “The response of the gamers was mentally robust each on and off the ball.”
Things appeared bleak for the guests early on as a tumbling Cucurella was twice left red-faced.
He misplaced his footing within the fifth minute and Brennan Johnson performed the ball into the realm when Solanke produced a poacher’s end to present his facet the lead.
Minutes later the very same factor occurred, this time the Spaniard slipping over and searching on in horror because the ball was ultimately performed to Kulusevski who minimize throughout the realm earlier than threading a exact shot previous Robert Sánchez.
Cucurella went off to vary his footwear and his facet’s fortunes rapidly modified too, Sancho placing an exquisite shot in off the submit after a surging diagonal run.
Chelsea have been maybe fortunate to not be right down to 10 males when Moisés Caicedo adopted by means of on Pape Matar Sarr and shortly afterwards Sarr headed a cross towards the woodwork.
Tottenham have been hanging on to their lead within the second half however a reckless problem by Yves Bissouma on Caicedo was a transparent penalty and Palmer beat Fraser Forster.
The hosts briefly rallied with Son going shut however Fernandez volleyed Chelsea in entrance within the 73rd minute after a mazy dribble by the unstoppable Palmer.
Palmer then capped an incredible afternoon when he was introduced down by Sarr and delivered an audacious “panenka” penalty.
Son’s tap-in was scant comfort for Tottenham who additionally misplaced Romero’s defensive associate Micky van de Ven to damage close to the top of the sport.
