In a violent London derby that they ended with nine men on Monday, Tottenham Hotspur's chances of returning the top spot in the Premier League were dramatically destroyed when they lost 4-1 at home to Chelsea.
Few could have predicted how Mauricio Pochettino would manage to pull off the biggest victory of his brief Chelsea stint on a night filled with bizarre VAR calls, heated arguments, disallowed goals, and injuries, but it was a victorious homecoming to Spurs for the manager.
After only six minutes, Tottenham, who had not lost before, took the lead thanks to a deflected drive from Dejan Kulusevski. However, a few minutes later, Son Heung-min's second goal was disallowed for offside.
But the hosts' evening broke down in a way that might seriously affect their season, recalling memories of the notorious "Battle of the Bridge" in 2016, when Chelsea dashed Pochettino's Tottenham team's dreams of winning the league.
After a VAR review for a risky tackle that led to Cole Palmer scoring a penalty, center defender Cristian Romero was sent off. Just before halftime, Spurs also lost playmaker James Maddison and defensive partner Micky van de Ven to injuries.
Ten minutes after the interval, Destiny Udogie received another yellow card, which meant that the home team had to hold on for a point.
After yet another VAR offside check, Jackson's close-range strike gave Chelsea the lead in the 75th minute, finally making their numerical advantage count.
Jackson secured the victory with two extra-time attempts in front of the jubilant Chelsea supporters after Eric Dier, a substitute for Tottenham, had his equalizer disqualified for offside. Son also had an effort stopped by Robert Sanchez during dead time.
Ange Postecoglou's team suffered their first league loss and now sits one point behind champion Manchester City with 26 points from 11 games. Chelsea improved to 10th place with 15 points after their fourth league victory of the year.
Postecoglou, an Australian, stated that it was difficult to evaluate his first Premier League loss.
"If we receive a red card, we accept it and carry on. Rather, all of us are doing is waiting for decisions while standing around. Regarding the multiple VAR rulings that interfered with play, he remarked, "I'm just an old man shouting at the clouds though."
"The implications that we will have to handle
BEST STARTS
Being undefeated in their first ten Premier League games, Postecoglou is the only manager to have led Tottenham to their greatest start to a top-flight season since 1960.
The crowd erupted as Kulusevski's strike bounced off Levi Colwill, tricking Sanchez and rolling into the net.
At first, Chelsea was chasing shadows and were relieved when Son's attempt was flagged offside.
Then, though, Tottenham's entire world started to fall apart.
Before Romero's insolent kick at Colwill went unpunished and Raheem Sterling's goal was disallowed for handball following another VAR check, Udogie was lucky to only receive a booking for his two-footed challenge on the player.
A few minutes later, Moises Caicedo of Chelsea fired a low shot through the throng, but VAR confirmed it was offside.
Referee Michael Oliver, however, concluded the VAR assessment by awarding Romero a penalty and then dismissed him for a reckless tackle on Argentina teammate Enzo Fernandez during the build-up.
After a perplexing seven minutes, Cole Palmer stepped up and managed to squeeze his penalty in off the post.
"It's his strength, the physicality of him (Romero). He was judged to have gone too far today, according to Postecoglou.
Tottenham's situation worsened when Maddison rolled his ankle and Van de Ven's hamstring failed.
After a disastrous tackle on Sterling that resulted in a second booking, Udogie was sent off after just ten minutes of play in the second half. Spurs had survived twelve minutes of stoppage time in the first half.
.After Sterling's pass found Jackson, the Senegal striker shattered Tottenham's defense with a tap-in goal, and he added two more goals in the dying moments to further hurt the home team.
"I believed we did a good job... All the events during the match were equitable, according to Pochettino. We played for, I don't know, 110 or 120 minutes today. Is it now one AM?
