Senegal international Nicolas Jackson bagged a hat-trick as Chelsea rallied from behind to thrash nine-man Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 on Monday night.
Premier League
Result: Chelsea 4-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Date: 06 November 2023
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Blues manager Mauricio Pochettino recalled Thiago Silva, Levi Colwill and Moises Caicedo while Reece James makes his first league start since the opening game against Liverpool.The home side got off to a positive start Dusan Kulusevski opened the scoring after just eight minutes with a left-footed strike that took a big deflection off Colwill.
Spurs thought they had doubled their lead after 15 minutes when Son Heung-min turned home a low cross from Destiny Udogie in the box, however celebrations were cut short as the flag was raised for offside, with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) confirming the decision.
The eventful first half continued as it was Chelsea's turn to be denied by VAR as Raheem Sterling had a goal disallowed on 22 minutes for a handball, before Caicedo's strike was also ruled out for an offside six minutes later.
In the aftermath of Caicedo's disallowed, VAR spotted a foul from Christian Romero on Enzo Fernandez in the box and the referee awarded a penalty, which Cole Palmer managed to convert and while the Spurs defender was sent off.
The situation got worse for Spurs ten minutes into the second half when Udogie's evening came to an end after picking up his second yellow card for a late challenge on Sterling.
With Chelsea getting beyond Spurs' offside trap, goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was at his best as he produced a string of good saves, including denying Marc Cucurella in a one-on-one situation with 20 minutes to go.
The Blues got their reward in the 75th minute when Sterling broke Spurs' high-line before unselfishly teeing up Nicolas Jackson, who made no mistakes from close range.
The visitors managed to seal the win in second-half stoppage moments after Son was denied, as they broke on another counter-attack which ended with Jackson turning home Conor Gallagher.
There was enough time for Jackson to complete his hat-trick as he rounded off the scoring in the seventh minute of time added on by rounding the Spurs goalkeeper before slotting into an empty net.
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