Chelsea vs Tottenham LIVE – Follow updates and analysis from ...
Hello and welcome to football.london for live coverage of Chelsea versus Tottenham Hotspur from Stamford Bridge this evening.
Mauricio Pochettino takes on his former club Spurs for the second time this season after guiding the Blues to a 4-1 victory in north London earlier in the campaign. A 10-man Tottenham were beaten thanks to a hat-trick from Nicolas Jackson for Chelsea to gain bragging rights over their rivals.
However, Spurs have had the better season as a whole and still have the opportunity to finish in the top four. Aston Villa occupy fourth-place at the moment, but Tottenham have two games in-hand on their rivals and sit seven points below them – making tonight's fixture even more significant.
Chelsea, meanwhile, can still finish in seventh-place, which will be enough to qualify for the Europa Conference League next term. There is so much riding on tonight's match for very different reasons and it is set to be a hugely entertaining one as well.
Bobby Vincent and Rob Guest are live in SW6 to bring you live updates and analysis throughout the afternoon and evening.
TEAM NEWS18:31
Welcome18:42
21:47Bobby Vincent
There were some real standout performers for Chelsea on Thursday evening.
Gilchrist was brilliant making his full Premier League debut at Stamford Bridge. Caicedo continued his resurgence in form, as did Badiashile.
Chalobah and Jackson proved to be match-winners. Below, Bobby Vincent rated each of the Chelsea players out of 10 based on their performance tonight.
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21:35Sam Truelove
Chelsea2
Tottenham0
Premier League, Thursday 2nd, 2024
21:35Sam Truelove
Chelsea2
Tottenham0
Premier League, Thursday 2nd, 2024
21:26KEY EVENT
Chelsea claim all three points. A much deserved three points at that. The Blues were the much better side.
Spurs had a spell at the start of the second-half but Chelsea deserve to record maxium points. Goals either side of the break from Chalobah and Jackson enough for Pochettino's men to do just that.
21:21Rob Guest
Six minutes added on.
21:05Bobby Vincent
A brilliant effort from Palmer, whose free-kick smashes the crossbar and Jackson is there for the follow up. His fourth goal of the season against Tottenham and his 11th in the Premier League.
21:03KEY EVENT
Jackson! The striker heads into the empty net after Palmer hits the crossbar with a free-kick. Chelsea double their lead.
20:57Rob Guest
Van de Ven sees yellow after tripping Jackson on the halfway line.
20:53Rob Guest
Hojbjerg, Bentancur and Maddison on for Bissouma, Sarr and Richarlison.
20:43Rob Guest
Spurs have been much better since the interval.
Another attack sees Kulusevski put a low ball into Richarlison but Badiashile is on hand to get a vital touch at the near post.
20:42Bobby Vincent
The ball falls to the right man in Palmer but he skies it over the crossbar. Jackson breaks with the ball, finds Madueke, who lays it off to Palmer but Chelsea's top goal scorer is way off target.
20:35Rob Guest
The second half is underway.
20:34Sam Truelove
Speaking on Sky Sports the former Liverpool midfielder said:
Great header. Wow, what a powerful header this is. I can’t believe Tottenham’s set-up. We spoke a lot about their set-pieces. The two biggest players for Chelsea, Chalobah and Badiashile, are with Brennan Johnson at the back post who doesn’t really want to head the ball. I don’t understand why none of Spurs’ big defenders have gone and changed that, gone and marked him. They haven’t and then they have set this situation up. You can see Cucurella does a good block, and that is a fantastic header. But the set-up from Spurs, why doesn’t Micky van de Ven just shift himself five yards and come and mark one of them? You can see, if he doesn’t score you have got the man behind him as well from Chelsea’s point of view. Really poor set-up from Spurs but a fantastic goal, and first half performance from Chelsea.
20:22Rob Guest
Vicario 5
Porro 4
Romero 6
Van de Ven 7
Emerson 4
Bissouma 4
Sarr 4
Kulusevski 4
Johnson 5
Richarlison 5
Son 4
20:19Bobby Vincent
Djordje Petrovic – Nothing to do really. 6.
Alfie Gilchrist – Has started well defensively. 6.
Trevoh Chalobah – A fantastic header to open the scoring. Has been solid back there as always. 8.
Benoit Badiashile – Nice step up to tackle Sarr on three minutes. Looks encouraging. 7.
Marc Cucurella – Good block to deny Johnson on six minutes. Playing in the inverted full-back role as he did in the second-half at Aston Villa. 6.
Moises Caicedo – Everywhere again. Seems to be continuing his form from Aston Villa. 7.
Conor Gallagher – Great cross to set Chalobah up for the opening goal. 7.
Noni Madueke – Looks really dangerous. 7.
Cole Palmer – You would expect him to score when the ball falls to him after Vicario’s save from Jackson’s one-on-one. Showed his class apart from that. 7.
Mykhailo Mudryk – Great run and pass to set up Jackson early on. Looks really bright. 7.
Nicolas Jackson – Should do better with his chance early on but has made some great runs in behind. 6.
20:19Bobby Vincent
Chelsea lead at the half-time break with Chalobah's goal the difference between the two teams at the moment. For a large part of the first 45 minutes, the Blues controlled the match.
Spurs have looked below par thus far with very few opportunities for the visitors at Stamford Bridge. But we are only halfway through this one...
20:15Rob Guest
There will be four additional minutes at the end of the first half.
20:09Rob Guest
Really good chance for Spurs to equalise but Romero nods wide Porro's free-kick from close range.
The centre-back really should have done better with that attempt.
20:04Rob Guest
Tottenham are really struggling to create anything here against Chelsea.
Kulusevski floats a ball to the back post but nobody is there and the Blues regain possession.
20:02Bobby Vincent
It is so almost 2-0 to Chelsea. Mudryk cuts inside of Porro, who he seems to have the beating of thus far, but his shot does not quite have enough whip on it to find the top corner.
Brilliant from Palmer in the build-up to set the Ukrainian up.
19:57Bobby Vincent
After all of that, the decision to allow the goal stands. What a moment for Chalobah.
19:56Bobby Vincent
He's onside. VAR are now checking for a possible foul.
19:55Bobby Vincent
VAR are checking for a possible offside.
19:54Bobby Vincent
Gallagher with a fantastic free-kick delivery to the far post and Chalobah meets it to guide the ball past Vicario. A goal made in Cobham.
19:54KEY EVENT
Chalobah heads in and Chelsea lead!
19:53Bobby Vincent
Madueke does well to drive at the Spurs defence and make a bit of room for himself. He tries his luck in a good position but cannot keep the ball down. Close to the opening.
19:48Rob Guest
Spurs mount an attack and Petrovic gets a vital hand to the ball from Johnson's cross with Richarlison waiting to convert.
Good move from the visitors.
19:47Bobby Vincent
The ball falls to Gilchrist on the edge of the box after a cross from Cucurella. The whole stadium, virtually, shouts "shoot" and he accepts the offer. Unfortunately for him it goes comfortably over.
19:35Bobby Vincent
Mudryk does really well to play Jackson through on goal but the striker's shot is saved by Vicario. The ball then falls to Palmer on his right foot but Chelsea's top goal scorer cannot keep the ball down.
Huge chance missed.
19:30Rob Guest
We're up and running at Stamford Bridge.
