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Chelsea climbed back into the Premier League's top four with a 1-0 win at home to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday night. The Blues moved back ahead of Manchester City and Newcastle United with the victory, ensuring Spurs' record at Stamford Bridge remains at only one win since 1990.
Contrastingly, the result meant Tottenham remained mired in 14th place with 34 points after 30 games as the pressure mounted on Ange Postecoglou, who clashed with fans during the derby.
Chelsea nearly went ahead inside 60 seconds when a straight ball over the top from Trevoh Chalobah found Nicolas Jackson, who bundled into Guglielmo Vicario and had Micky van de Ven's clearance come off his shin and strike the post. Malo Gusto then hit the side-netting with a fierce strike soon afterwards, with half of Stamford Bridge fooled into thinking it had gone the right side of the upright.
Midway through the first half, a cutback from an unmarked Cole Palmer through the Spurs box found Enzo Fernandez, but Destiny Udogie was on hand to smother the Argentine and keep the ball from rolling across the line. On the stroke of half-time, the Blues should have notched themselves ahead. Pedro Neto's deep cross flew all the way to Jadon Sancho, whose top corner-bound strike was brushed over by Vicario.
Within five minutes of the restart, Chelsea had their opening goal. Palmer shifted out to the left and whipped in a delicious cross for Fernandez to thunder in with his head having escaped the marking of Tottenham's half-committed defenders.
The hosts didn't have to wait long to find the net again, either. Spurs failed to deal with a free-kick into the box, and Moises Caicedo was on hand to volley home from just inside 18-yard area, but after an extremely lengthy VAR check lasting several minutes, it was ruled out for offside on the initial delivery.
Out of absolutely nothing, Tottenham thought they had levelled it up with little over 20 minutes to play. Pape Matar Sarr, just on as a substitute, robbed Caicedo of possession before letting fly from 25 yards, and Robert Sanchez could only parry the shot onto the underside of the bar and in. However, a VAR check led to referee Craig Pawson deciding Sarr had clipped Caicedo's leg with his boot to win possession and Spurs' equaliser was cancelled.
Palmer nearly grabbed a goal for himself when his looping shot had to be swiped aside by Vicario before Sanchez became the hero at the other end for denying Son Heung-min at point-blank range. The Blues' win was confirmed after 12 minutes of added time in light of the two VAR delays.
GOAL rates Chelsea's players from Stamford Bridge...
