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Mauricio Pochettino made a winning return to Tottenham with Chelsea as his former club were reduced to nine men on a night of chaos and controversy.<\/p>\n
The Argentine\u2019s comeback was reduced to a minor sub-plot by an epic game which brought five goals, a further five which were disallowed, two red cards, and a slew of VAR decisions in one of the Premier League\u2019s most frenetic ever encounters.<\/p>\n
Spurs started brilliantly and deservedly went ahead when Dejan Kulsevski\u2019s sixth-minute shot deflected in off Chelsea defender Levi Colwill before Son Heung-min had an effort narrowly ruled out for offside as the home side looked to capitalise on their early dominance.<\/p>\n
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In a fevered atmosphere Chelsea had two goals of their own disallowed, one each from Raheem Sterling and Moises Caideco ruled out for handball and offside respectively.<\/p>\n
But the latter situation still led to a Chelsea goal as a penalty was awarded for a crude challenge by Romero on compatriot Enzo Fernandez, and the Spurs defender was deservedly sent off in the aftermath.<\/p>\n
Summer signing Cole Palmer scored the resulting spot-kick to level the match before Spurs were also handicapped by what looked like a serious hamstring injury for key defender Micky van de Ven and an ankle problem for James Maddison as both players were substituted before the interval.<\/p>\n
Spurs were battling an even greater disadvantage when Destiny Udogie was sent off ten minutes after the break for an inexplicably reckless tackle on Sterling which brought a second yellow card from referee Michael Oliver.<\/p>\n
Ange Postecoglou, who also received a yellow card on the Spurs bench amid the mayhem, gambled on keeping a high line even with nine men but Chelsea finally broke their resistance with 15 minutes left, Raheem Sterling breaking clear to set up Nicolas Jackson for a simple finish.<\/p>\n
The game was far from finished, though, and Spurs came close to securing a stunning draw as Eric Dier had a superb finish ruled out for a narrow offside and Rodrigo Bentancur headed just wide after beating Chelsea\u2019s defensive line at a late free-kick.<\/p>\n
Jackson then scored twice more in stoppage time to secure a late hat-trick and render the scoreline far more comfortable than the evening had been for the visitors.<\/p>\n
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