Chelsea came from 2-0 down to win and go second in the Premier League with a statement win over sorry Tottenham.
Spurs were 2-0 up inside 11 minutes as two Marc Cucurella slips helped aided Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski. But Chelsea hit back swiftly when Jadon Sancho halved the deficit with a powerful strike off the inside of the post from the edge of the box.
The frantic nature of the match continued, with both teams intent on playing in a carefree end-to-end style. Cole Palmer missed a glorious chance before Fraser Forster made an impressive double save to deny Palmer and Pedro Neto.
Pape Sarr hit the crossbar with a header from a corner shortly after being caught by a Moises Caicedo tackle which could easily have warranted a red card. Kulusevski also avoided VAR intervention after catching Romeo Lavia with an elbow before the half-time whistle blew.
Forster was called into action again after the break, keeping out Sancho, but couldn’t prevent Palmer from making it 2-2 from the penalty spot after Yves Bissouma caught Caicedo in the box.
It got even worse for Tottenham when Enzo Fernandez smashed in a loose ball to make it 3-2 before Sarr pushed over Palmer to allow him to show off with a panenka penalty to rub salt in the wounds before Son Heung-min netted to cut the deficit in added time.
A game this open suited Palmer down to the ground, but it took two penalties for him to make his mark on it. Bissouma did his best to create a new dictionary definition for ‘stonewall penalty’ and Palmer did the honours, sending Forster the wrong way with ease. His second spot-kick was even better: a cheeky panenka straight down the middle to sit the Spurs goalkeeper down.
Pressure doesn’t seem to affect the Chelsea playmaker Paul Palmer as he overtook Yaya Toure’s record of 11 perfect penalties in the Premier League by making it 12 out of 12.
His form over 2024 is ridiculous: the 22-year-old has been involved in 37 Premier League goals (25 goals, 13 assists)this year – that is the best record of any Chelsea player in the competition’s history and there are still plenty of games to come.
In the end, palmer made it four goals to two for chelsea, but Spurs striker Son’s goal ensured the matched ended with the home team losing with a 2 goal deficit.
