We did not look poor until Spurs went down to 9 men, That is a fantasy. After conceding that first goal let’s look at how much pressure we were putting on them.
11' SAVE! Maddison inexplicably gives the ball away under very little pressure, and Sterling puts Jackson in on goal. The striker hesitates but manages to cut back and find the space to shoot, and his effort looks like it will fly into the bottom corner, until Vicario gets down to his left and palms it behind for a corner.
18' Tottenham · Udogie receives the first booking of the match for a nasty challenge on Sterling. He seemed to go in with two feet, but while there is a VAR check, the decision is to stay with a yellow card. He is a lucky boy, and so is Sterling, who could have been in real trouble there if Udogie had fully caught him.
21’ GOAL!!! STERLING LEVELS FOR Chelsea!!! They have been under a lot of pressure in these early exchanges, but the persistence of Sterling means they have equalised. He picks up the ball and carries it into the Spurs box, and receives a big slice of luck as his shot is blocked back into his path. He brings it down again before finishing, making it 1-1, though there is a VAR review as it seems to hit his arm… NO GOAL!!! Spurs are very fortunate, as the replays show the ball flicks back up onto Sterling's arm before he finishes, and the goal is ruled out. Spurs' 1-0 lead remains intact!
27' GOAL!!! CAICEDO LEVELS WITH A STUNNER!!! A penalty shout falls on defeat ears before the ball finds its way out to Caicedo outside the box. The former Brighton man smashes goalwards first time, and his shot is superb as it flies past Vicario and into the back of the net. However, the flag goes up for offside, and there will be a VAR check to ascertain whether Jackson was offside and blocking Vicario's view... NO GOAL!!! The VAR rules that Jackson was indeed offside and blocking Vicario's view. However, there is yet another VAR check to see whether a Romero challenge in the build-up to the disallowed goal is worthy of a penalty, and even a red card!
ROMERO IS OFF!!! The VAR and on-field referee Michael Oliver decide that Romero's challenge is not only enough to award a penalty, but also see the defender given his marching orders with a straight red card. It was a poor challenge and could have caused his international team-mate a real problem.
Chelsea ·GOAL!!! PALMER MAKES NO MISTAKE!!
In the 37’ we scored again but the goal was called off because Sterling was off side in the build up.
Spurs did not go down to nine men until 55’ in the second half. Chelsea owned that first half and had Spurs under a lot of pressure until the Penalty equalized. To say we were not good until Spurs went down to nine men is absolutely wrong. We conceded a goal and we were the better team every minute after that.
