Cole Palmer scored twice from the penalty spot as Chelsea roared back from two goals down after 11 minutes to beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 away in a frenzied London derby and close the gap with English Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday.
Two comical slips by Chelsea full-back Marc Cucurella led to Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski giving the hosts a dream start but their joy turned to despair as the visitors showed why they should be considered title contenders.
Jadon Sancho rifled in a shot after 17 minutes to give Chelsea momentum and Palmer equalised from the spot just past the hour mark as Chelsea dominated the second period.
Enzo Fernandez powered home a shot to put Chelsea ahead and Palmer effectively wrapped it up with his second penalty late on before Son Heung-min scored a stoppage-time consolation goal.
Chelsea are in second place with 31 points from 15 games, four points behind Liverpool whose game at Everton was postponed because of high winds on Saturday.
Tottenham’s second defeat of the week left them in 11th place with 20 points and the pressure mounting on manager Ange Postecoglou.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has played down the title chances of his expensively-assembled squad who are now unbeaten in seven games and have won their last four Premier League matches.
They are the top scorers in the division with 35 goals and in Palmer have a player at the peak of his powers.
He now has 50 goal involvements (33 goals and 17 assists) in 48 Premier League games for the London club since joining from Manchester City.
Things looked bleak for the visitors early on as a tumbling Cucurella was twice left red-faced.
He lost his footing in the fifth minute and Brennan Johnson played the ball forward to Solanke to poach the opener.
Minutes later the exact same thing happened, this time the Spaniard slipping over and looking on in horror as the ball found its way to Kulusevski who finished in clinical fashion.
Cucurella went off to change his footwear and his side’s fortunes quickly changed. Sancho struck a wonderful shot in off the post although Pape Matar Sarr almost restored Tottenham’s two-goal lead with a header against the crossbar.
Tottenham were hanging on to their lead in the second half but a crazy challenge by Yves Bissouma on Moises Caicedo was a clear penalty and Palmer beat Fraser Forster.
The hosts briefly rallied with Son going close but Fernandez volleyed Chelsea in front in the 73rd minute after a mazy dribble by the unstoppable Palmer.
Palmer capped a great afternoon when he was brought down by Pape Sarr and delivered an audacious ‘Panenka’ penalty.
Reuters
