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Chelsea vs Tottenham LIVE: Premier League result, latest updates and reaction after Blues win London derby
A low-key London derby to rounds off the midweek Premier League action
The manager appeared to goad his own fans in a move which quickly backfired
Regrettable: Ange Postecoglou
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Dan Kilpatrick @ Dan_KP1 minute ago
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Ange Postecoglou clashed with Tottenham's travelling supporters at Stamford Bridge as he became the first Spurs manager to lose with his first four league games against rivals Chelsea.
Enzo Fernandez’s header five minutes after the interval settled a chaotic game, which saw both sides have a goal disallowed.
Caicedo thought he had doubled Chelsea's lead with a brilliant volley, but it was ruled out by the VAR for offside.
Spurs substitute Pape Matar Sarr then equalised with a low-range strike, prompting Postecoglou to cup his ear to the away end, who had jeered en masse the decision to introduce the Senegalese for Lucas Bergvall.
But Sarr’s goal was also ruled out for a foul on Caicedo, and Chelsea held on to boost their top-four hopes.
Here’s how we rated the Spurs players…
Guglielmo Vicario 6
Pulled off a stunning one-handed save to deny Sancho at the end of the first half but shaky with his feet and flapped at crosses. Powerless to keep out Fernandez’s close-range header.
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Djed Spence 6
Stood up well to Sancho’s tricks but left him and Cucurella free at the back post for a big Chelsea chance at the end of the first half.
Cristian Romero 5
Relished the needle of a big derby but struggled to shackle the returning Nicolas Jackson, and was shrugged off the ball by the striker more than once.
Micky van de Ven 5
Lucky when his clearance struck Jackson and came back off the post inside a minute, and should take his share of the blame for Fernandez being unmarked for the goal.
Destiny Udogie 5
Looked sharper after a much-needed rest and got stuck into tackles. Like Spence, frequently found himself outnumbered at the back post, including for the winning goal.
Rodrigo Bentancur 5
Offered little in the way of protection for Spurs defence and wasn’t adventurous enough with his pass to be a threat in the final third.
Lucas Bergvall 7
His dribbling was eye-catching and he looked the likeliest to make something happen for the first hour. His withdrawal prompted loud criticism of Postecoglou from the away end.
James Maddison 5
Passing ranged from brilliant to atrocious, and the game passed him by for long spells.
Wilson Odobert 5
Had a couple of bright moments but faded, and was hooked on the hour.
Heung-min Son 6
Extended Robert Sanchez at the back post in the closest Spurs came to a late equaliser.
Dominic Solanke 7
Worked tirelessly and used the ball cleverly at times. But had no sniff at goal, and was well-marshalled by Caicedo.
Subs
Brennan Johnson (Odobert 64’) 6
Set up a great late chance for Son with a low cross but guilty of some petulant fouls, too.
Pape Matar Sarr (Bergvall 64’) 7
Thought he had levelled the game with a long-range strike but ended up booked for a foul on Caicedo instead.
Pedro Porro (van de Ven 87’) 5
Booked for dissent after being a rare rest from the start.
Mathys Tel (Maddison 87’) 6
Had a couple of bright moments on the ball from the left wing as Spurs pushed for a leveller.
Not used: Kinsky, Bissouma, Gray, Davies, Moore.
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Another huge derby day is upon us as Chelsea and Tottenham tonight face off at Stamford Bridge in what is historically been a bad-tempered - and action-packed - affair.
The Blues’ form has faltered of late, taking just six points from their last five Premier League matches before the international break, but they will be bolstered by the returning Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, and Noni Madueke.
Jackson and Madueke’s output has been sorely missed as the Blues have struggled to find the back of the net in their absence. The club have scored more than two goals in a match on just one occasion since January, a 4-0 win against rock-bottom Southampton.
As such, manager Enzo Maresca has come under pressure from fans, who have quickly tired of his patient, possession-focused style and apparent lack of innovation as results slump. He has not been helped by awkwardly timed injuries, though many a fan has been left wondering what became of Chelsea’s high-flying pre-Christmas form.
That is not to say the grass is any greener at Tottenham, who are languishing in 14th place in the table. Ange Postecoglou’s side also ravaged by injuries with the manager at one stage without 11 first-team players.
Winless in three in the league having lost to Fulham and Manchester City either side of a home draw to Bournemouth, time is running out for Postecoglou to get his side on song. Pressure is mounting as club leadership are reported to be considering a change of head coach.
While Chelsea are realistically the more likely candidates for the win on Thursday, one must remember that the Blues do nothing the easy way. See, for instance, the away loss to Servette which nearly saw them miss out on Conference League qualification or last month’s laboured 1-0 win over Leicester. Perhaps low on morale after a string of shaky performances, Chelsea will be vulnerable.
Whether Spurs can take advantage of said weakness, though, is another question entirely. They historically do not perform well at Stamford Bridge, failing to win there since 2018, and are winless - and pointless - in their last three against Chelsea, who will hope to continue the trend.
Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven start together for Tottenham in the Premier League against Chelsea for the first time since the reverse fixture in north London in December, in which they were both injured.
Ange Postecoglou has gone with his strongest possible side for big game at Stamford Bridge, and is likely to rest players for Sunday's visit of Southampton ahead of the Europa League quarter-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Dejan Kulusevski (foot), Kevin Danso (hamstring) and Radu Dragusin (knee) are sidelined, while Richarlison has returned to full training but Postecoglou said he will not be involved in west London.
Postecoglou has opted for Djed Spence and Destiny Udogie at full-back, with Pedro Porro the one to drop out.
Rorigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison are selected to make up the three-man midfield, although Pape Matar Sarr and Archie Gray are on the bench if changes are required.
Wilson Odobert impressed for France's Under-21s during the international break and has the edge of Brennan Johnson, Mathys Tel and Mikey Moore on the right wing, while Heung-min Son and Dominic Solanke will make up the front three.
Van de Ven and Romero were both forced off with injuries during Spurs' 4-3 defeat to Enzo Maresca's side earlier in the campaign. Romero was sidelined for three months with a thigh injury, while van de Ven briefly returned in January before appearances against Bournemouth and AZ Alkmaar last month.
Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are tonight set to start together for Tottenham in the Premier League against Chelsea for the first time since the reverse fixture in north London in December, in which they were both injured.
Ange Postecoglou is likely to go with his strongest side for Thursday's game at Stamford Bridge, and rest players for Sunday's visit of Southampton ahead of the Europa League quarter-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Dejan Kulusevski (foot), Kevin Danso (hamstring) and Radu Dragusin (knee) are sidelined, while Richarlison has returned to full training but Postecoglou has said he will not be involved in west London.
Postecoglou must pick two from Pedro Porro, Djed Spence and Destiny Udogie at full-back, with the Italian most likely to miss out given Spence's impressive displays at left-back for the last few months.
Rorigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison are in pole position to make up the three-man midfield, although Pape Matar Sarr would add running power and Archie Gray is an option after starting at No6 in the defeat at Fulham before the international break.
Wilson Odobert impressed for France's Under-21s during the international break and has the edge of Brennan Johnson, Mathys Tel and Mikey Moore on the right wing, while Heung-min Son and Dominic Solanke will make up the front three.
Van de Ven and Romero were both forced off with injuries during Spurs' 4-3 defeat to Enzo Maresca's side earlier in the campaign. Romero was sidelined for three months with a thigh injury, while van de Ven briefly returned in January before appearances against Bournemouth and AZ Alkmaar last month.
Palmer missed the 1-0 defeat by Arsenal before the international break with what was described as a minor muscle injury and pulled out of England duty as a result.
It was the first game the playmaker had missed in the Premier League all season, but he returned to training last week. So, too, did Madueke and Jackson, who have each been sidelined with hamstring problems.
Madueke was forced off early in February’s 3-0 defeat away at Brighton, while Jackson has not played since picking up his injury in the home win over West Ham on transfer deadline day two months ago.
Speaking on Wednesday, Enzo Maresca confirmed: “Cole is back, he’s okay, he’s better. Noni is better, Nico is better. They are all good.”
Pedro Neto has been deputising as a No9 but could return to the wing, with Jadon Sancho and Christopher Nkunku at risk of losing their places.
Meanwhile, the timing of the FA Cup quarter-finals has eased Chelsea’s usual post-international break headache, with first-choice midfield pair Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez having had sufficient time to recover from their trips to South America. That pair will be needed, with Maresca revealing that Romeo Lavia has suffered another injury setback and is a major doubt.
Tottenham’s season has been disrupted by injuries as several key players have spent significant time on the sidelines
Ange Postecoglou admits he could have eased Cristian Romero back into action at the start of the season
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Dan Kilpatrick @ Dan_KP2 minutes ago
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Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has admitted he was mistaken to use certain players, including Cristian Romero, from the start of the campaign because they had experienced "disruptive" pre-seasons following international tournaments.
Postecoglou's Spurs, who face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, have been decimated by injuries this term, with Romero featuring in just 17 of their 46 matches so far.
The centre-half was part of Argentina's Copa America-winning squad last summer, while Rodrigo Bentancur also featured for Uruguay at the finals.
Dutch defender Micky van de Ven, Romania's Radu Dragusin and Italy goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario were part of their countries' Euro 2024 squads, and all five players were given extended breaks following the tournaments.
Romero and van de Ven both suffered fresh injuries on their return to the Spurs team after lay-offs in the reverse fixture against Chelsea and they could start together in the Premier League for the first time since that game at Stamford Bridge this week.
Postecoglou conceded that playing some members of his squad from the opening day of the season was "not wise" and says the club will evaluate their mistakes at the end of the campaign.
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"Looking at how we went into the season, some guys, especially Romero, hardly did any pre-season with us and it wasn't wise to play him from the first game," Postecoglou said.
"That's something that we need to look at, guys who don't do pre-season. I've done it before in my career where you wait until they're ready to go. But I think that's all for the end of the year.
"[Pre-season was] really disruptive in terms of the amount of players who weren’t part of it for an extended period of time [and] we just went into the league season, and then into Europe and a decent run in the Carabao Cup.
Micky van de Ven suffered an injury setback in the reverse fixture against Chelsea earlier in the season
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"In retrospect I should have looked at it from a different perspective in terms of when we introduce players into the first team to really drive into our season.
"We had a lot of players on international duty who came back pretty late in the piece.
"What I’m trying to explain is that players need a good two-to-three week block of training before they play.
"If that means somebody comes in the last week of preseason rather than putting him in the first team, give him that block and make him available for selection after we’ve had a decent hit at it."
Spurs have announced a pre-season friendly against north London rivals Arsenal in Hong Kong on July 31, with other tour dates and locations to be announced by the club in due course.
There are no international tournaments this summer but Postecoglou says he plans to tailor pre-season to each individual to ensure Spurs are better prepared for next term.
"It's not the actual design of pre-season," he added. "This year, what we’ve done so far, it’s looking like from a games programme and the trips we need to do it’s a decent games programme.
"I don’t think any player wants to do preseason. If they could all avoid it they would… I think with the way football is going and has gone in recent times, with the volume of games plus the fact they’re not really getting the traditional summer break you’ve got to start thinking about it.
"I’ve done it in the past where you kind of tailor it more individually rather than say we do preseason on the first day, everyone ready to go. I just don’t think that world exists."
I don’t think any player wants to do preseason. If they could all avoid it they would
Ange Postecoglou
Postecoglou's decision to start Romero and van de Ven in the 4-3 defeat to Chelsea backfired, with the former suffering a thigh injury after just 14 minutes and the Dutchman forced off late on with a recurrence of a hamstring injury.
"Romero was coming back from a knock on his toe but he was fit," Postecoglou said.
"Micky with his hamstring, he'd passed all the tests, we'd done everything and everyone felt like he was ready to go.
"There was some other context around that: we'd lost a couple of other centre-halves. And it unravelled.
"I know going into the game, my main concern was Micky. I wasn't really concerned about Cristian but then you lose Cristian to an unrelated injury and it puts more pressure on Micky and then he gets injured.
"Yeah, look, again, in hindsight, I would have not played either of them -- and they would have got injured in the next game mate. That's just the way football works."
Ange Postecoglou is eyeing a first win over Chelsea as Tottenham boss
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Chelsea have been frustrated by defensive teams in their last two home games, 1-0 wins over Leicester and FC Copenhagen sealed by second-half goals, but Postecoglou characteristically played down the prospect of Spurs setting up to frustrate their rivals.
"Sorry to disappoint," he said. "We’ll go there and have a crack and see if it’ll be a good game and hopefully we’ll come out on top.
"I think every club’s on its own journey and I was brought here for a couple of specific reasons. One was to change the way the club plays its football, rejuvenate the squad and bring some success. We’re well and truly on that road and we’ll stay on that road until those things happen."
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Chelsea have Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson all back in contention for Thursday night’s Premier League meeting with Tottenham.
Palmer missed the 1-0 defeat by Arsenal prior to the international break with what was described as a minor muscle injury and pulled out of England duty as a result.
It was the first game the playmaker had missed in the Premier League all season, but he returned to training last week. So, too, did Madueke and Jackson, who have each been sidelined with hamstring problems.
Madueke was forced off early in February’s 3-0 defeat away at Brighton, while Jackson has not played since picking up his injury in the home win over West Ham on transfer deadline day two months ago.
Speaking on Wednesday, Enzo Maresca confirmed: “Cole is back, he’s okay, he’s better. Noni is better, Nico is better. They are all good.”
Pedro Neto has been deputising as a No9 but could return to the wing, with Jadon Sancho and Christopher Nkunku at risk of losing their places.
Meanwhile, the timing of the FA Cup quarter-finals has eased Chelsea’s usual post-international break headache, with first-choice midfield pair Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez having had sufficient time to recover from their trips to South America. That pair will be needed, with Maresca revealing that Romeo Lavia has suffered another injury setback and is a major doubt.
Tottenham have announced a four percent drop in revenue for the year ending June 2024, largely a result of failing to qualify for Europe last term, with chairman Daniel Levy warning that the club must continue to be "sustainable" in the transfer market.
The club's total earnings dropped to £528.2million from £549.6m in the previous year, with UEFA prize money (down to £1.3m from £56.2m) and match receipts (£105.8m from £117.6m) falling sharply.
Spurs' played just 41 matches last season after failing to qualify for Europe in 2022-23 — a miserable campaign in which head coach Antonio Conte left the club — and crashing out of the FA Cup and League Cup in the early rounds.
In total, they played nine fewer matches at home last term compared to the previous campaign, as Conte's successor Ange Postecoglou guided them to a respectable fifth-place finish in the Premier League.
Commercial revenues and other income from sponsorship and attractions, however, increased to £255.2m (2023: £227.7m), while TV and media income was also up to £165.9m (up from £148.1m in 2023).
In a statement accompanying the results, Levy issued a fresh warning about transfer spend and suggested the latest figures justified the club's decision to pursue a "diversified income strategy" in the form of events and attractions at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which also hosts NFL games and concerts.
“Since opening our new stadium in April 2019, we have invested over £700 million net in player acquisitions," read Levy's statement. "Recruitment remains a key focus, and we must ensure that we make smart purchases within our financial means.
"I often read calls for us to spend more, given that we are ranked as the ninth richest club in the world.
"However, a closer examination of today’s financial figures reveals that such spending must be sustainable in the long term and within our operating revenues. Our capacity to generate recurring revenues determines our spending power.
"We cannot spend what we do not have, and we will not compromise the financial stability of this club – indeed, our off-pitch revenues have significantly supplemented the lower football revenues this year, testament to our diversified income strategy.”
Spurs also announced that operating expenses (before football trading) had decreased by 7 per cent to £453.6m (2023: £487.9m), largely due to fewer football matches and third-party events at the stadium, while profit from operations before depreciation, amortisation, player trading, interest and taxation increased by 4 per cent to £144.9m (2023: £138.7m).
Tottenham's net debt as of the end of June 2024 was £772.5m (up from £677.4 in 2023), with the club revealing that over 90 per cent of its total borrowings of £851.5m are at fixed rates, with an average interest rate of 2.79 per cent over an average of 18 years and six months.
Levy described the current campaign under Postecoglou — of whom he made no mention — as "highly challenging" but targeted winning the Europa League ahead of next month's two-legged quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt.
“We currently find ourselves in 14th position in the Premier League, navigating what has been a highly challenging season on the pitch," Levy wrote.
"We are, however, in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League. Winning this competition would see welcome silverware and mean qualification for the UEFA Champions League. We must do everything we can to support the team in these final key stages.”
The embattled chairman added: "I want to thank everyone who supports us through good times and bad. We are resilient and passionate about our Club. We shall aim to finish this season as strongly as we can and continue to build for success on the pitch."