Premier League: Chelsea knocks Tottenham to 11 against 9, City leader

Tottenham, reduced to nine, lost their invincibility in the league on Monday against Chelsea (4-1) at the same time as first place, abandoned to Manchester City, at the end of an intense fight rich in twists and turns, this Monday, in closing of the 11th day of the Premier League. Mauricio Pochettino, the former guide of Tottenham (2014-2019), has successfully returned to his former home. Chelsea's fourth victory this season allows their Blues to move up to tenth place after eleven days, six days before welcoming City. The Citizens, new leaders in the English championship standings, are one unit ahead of Tottenham and three ahead of Liverpool (3rd) and Arsenal (4th).

Driven by their unleashed supporters, and by the offensive precepts of their coach, Ange Postecoglou, the Spurs started with their feet on the floor and opened the scoring by Dejan Kulusevski, whose shot was deflected by the back of Levi Colwill (6th, 1- 0). But luck and the wind quickly turned against them, spectacularly. Captain Heung-Min Son's goal was canceled for offside (13th), playmaker James Maddison left with an injury and the two central defenders, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, returned to the locker room earlier than expected : the first for a muscle injury on the back of a thigh, the second because of a red card.

The Argentinian's exclusion occurred after five minutes of an improbable sequence where video assistance provided an emotional lift to the 22 actors and 62,000 spectators. The referees first invalidated a goal by Moises Caicedo for a slight offside by his partner Nicolas Jackson, triggering insulting chants against VAR from the Chelsea park, and cheers from the rest of the stadium. But they then detected, on the same action, a foul by Romero on Enzo Fernandez in the area. Cole Palmer transformed the penalty with the help of a post (35th, 1-1) before celebrating, with a finger on his mouth, to quiet the audience. Tottenham's troubles continued with the exclusion of defender Destiny Udogie (55th), guilty of a foul on Raheem Sterling, as in the first period (19th).

For a long time, the Spurs folded without breaking, as on this header from Jackson miraculously released by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (56th), or on this courageous save by goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario at the feet of Marc Cucurella (68th). But their valiant resistance ended up collapsing with a hat-trick from Jackson (75th, 90th 4 and 90th 7). The grateful supporters, however, gave them loud applause when the final whistle blew. The Spurs didn't lose everything.