writing appeared to be on the wall for Chelsea when the half-time whistle blew at Villa Park, as Marc Cucurella’s unfortunate own goal and Morgan Rogers’s exquisite strike propelled Unai Emery’s side into a two-goal advantage, thanks in no small part to familiar Blues wastefulness in the final third.
However, for just the fourth time in their Premier League history, Chelsea remarkably avoided defeat after entering the break two goals down courtesy of Noni Madueke’s curler and a sublime attempt from Conor Gallagher from a similar distance, and pandemonium briefly erupted in the away end when Robin Olsen and Axel Disasi inadvertently combined for an apparent winner.
Despite Craig Pawson having the best view of a perceived shove from Benoit Badiashile on Diego Carlos, the VAR intervened and convinced the on-field official to chalk the goal off, leading to Pawson receiving an earful from several enraged Chelsea stars as they were cruelly denied a courageous comeback triumph.
Gallagher admitted to feeling “gutted” at full time as the Blues’ winless run in all tournaments stretched to three matches, but they remain safely in the top half of the standings in ninth position and are very much in the European mix heading into the final few games; seventh-placed Newcastle United have played a game more and are only five points better off.
While profligacy has reared its ugly head more often than not for Chelsea recently, prolific performances have been easy to come by at Stamford Bridge, where they have won five and drawn one of their last six matches and have scored multiple goals in all of them, albeit while also conceding more than twice in all but one of them.
While Postecoglou also had a few choice words about the officiating, the Australian could not argue that set-pieces were his side’s undoing once again, and no sooner was their top-four fate back in their own hands to being out of their control; they sit seven points below Villa with two games to make up.
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Also licking the wounds from their humbling 4-0 thrashing at Newcastle United, Tottenham can only boast a mere two wins from their last 10 Premier League away matches and have just one goal to show from their last three on the road, while letting eight in at the other end of the field.
From the 52 goals that they have conceded this term, four came in November’s painful home loss to Chelsea – where Postecoglou insisted on the high line with his side down to nine – and Tottenham have only prevailed in one of their last 33 matches at Stamford Bridge, where now-Blues boss Pochettino masterminded a 3-1 success almost exactly six years ago.
Furthermore, 34 Premier League losses versus Chelsea is the second-most that Tottenham have suffered against one team, only behind Manchester United’s 39, and victory for Pochettino against his old employers would see the hosts match their club record of 10 Premier League doubles, a feat they have only previously achieved against Manchester City.
