Chelsea skipper settles latest Blues battle

Our poor record at Stamford Bridge continued on Thursday evening, as a second-half header from Enzo Fernandez consigned us to defeat in west London.

Going into the game with just one win in Chelsea’s enclosure during the Premier League era, we were unable to improve on that form and suffered a fourth straight reverse against the Blues, Fernandez scoring the only goal of the game five minutes after the interval.

Pape Matar Sarr had a goal ruled out by VAR shortly after coming off the bench in the 64th minute, adjudged to have committed a foul in the build-up on Chelsea midfielder Moses Caicedo, who himself had one disallowed by the video assistant for offside, while Heung-Min Son was denied a late equaliser by a fine save from Robert Sanchez.

It was almost a disastrous start for us as Chelsea hit the woodwork inside the first minute, Nicolas Jackson latching onto a long ball through the middle, breaking through a challenge from Guglielmo Vicario and, as Micky van de Ven tried to clear, he hit the ball against Jackson with it flashing off the post and away to safety. Malo Gusto then drilled a low shot just past the post and into the side-netting.

We settled into the game and enjoyed some good possession without troubling Sanchez in the Chelsea goal and instead, it was the hosts who went close again in the 18th minute, Destiny Udogie getting enough of a touch on Cole Palmer’s low cross to prevent Fernandez scoring from close range. Chelsea were seeing plenty of the ball in attacking areas but some dogged defending was keeping them at bay, while Son caused some panic in the home defence with a low dangerous cross as we looked to get things going in our own attacking third. The half concluded with a wonderful fingertip save from Vicario to flick Jaden Sancho’s angled drive over the bar and we went in goalless at the break.

Parity didn’t last long into the second period though as Chelsea went in front in the 50th minute. Palmer had just stung the palms of Vicario when he picked the ball up again and clipped over a cross which found Fernandez unmarked eight yards out and he headed home the opener. Six minutes later we had a lucky escape when Caicedo’s fine 18-yard volley was wiped out by VAR for an offside in the build up and we almost took advantage of the reprieve on 66 minutes when a Son corner eventually fell to van de Ven but his poke goalwards – our first shot on target in the game – was comfortable for Sanchez.

There was more VAR involvement with 20 minutes left, although this time it went against us. Substitute Sarr looked to have nicked the ball from Caicedo in midfield before striding forward and rifling an effort past Sanchez and into the net, with referee Craig Pawson awarding the goal. But VAR suggested he check the pitchside monitor for a foul by Sarr on the Chelsea midfielder, and he duly agreed and subsequently disallowed the strike.

For much of the final quarter, the game drifted somewhat with little action in the final thirds until the last minute of the 90, when Brennan Johnson was released down the right, he sent over a low ball to the far post which found Son on the stretch but Sanchez dived across his goal to thwart the skipper. Twelve minutes of added time gave us renewed hope of a way back into the contest as the home side dropped back and tried to held on to their narrow lead, which they managed to do as we struggled to carve out that final chance to snatch a draw.

Match data

Goal: Chelsea – Enzo Fernandez 50.

Yellow cards: Chelsea – Chalobah, Jackson, Cucurella, Neto, Palmer; Spurs – Romero, Sarr, Pedro Porro, Johnson, Spence.

Referee: Craig Pawson.

Venue: Stamford Bridge.

Weather: Clear sky, gentle breeze, nine degrees.

Attendance: 39,852.