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Chelsea beat Spurs in seven-goal thriller to finish second
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Chelsea beat Spurs in seven-goal thriller to finish second

Chelsea teammates celebrate the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on December 8, 2024. Chelsea wins 4 – 3 against Tottenham. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP) /

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Chelsea came back from 2-0 down to beat Tottenham 4-3 on Sunday and move into second place in the Premier League thanks to two Cole Palmer penalties.

Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski gave Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou a dream start.

But his cavalier attacking approach will come under greater scrutiny as Chelsea storm back to extend their unbeaten run in the Premier League to seven games.

Jadon Sancho gave the visitors a foothold before dominating the second half with Palmer twice from the penalty spot, either side of Enzo Fernandez’s strike.

Chelsea move to within four points of leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand after their visit to Everton on Saturday was postponed due to high winds.

Son Heung-min’s 96th-minute goal was little consolation for Spurs who have won just once in seven games and remain 11th in the table.

Postecoglou was involved in a furious confrontation with his own supporters after a dismal display in a 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth on Thursday.

Spurs have often saved their best for the biggest games this season, beating Manchester City twice and securing a 3-0 win at Manchester United early in the campaign.

Postecoglou’s men came out of the traps to leave an in-form Chelsea chasing the shadows from the start.

Solanke slipped in at the near post to turn home Brennan Johnson’s cross to open the scoring.

Kulusevski then snaked along the edge of the Blues box before firing low past Robert Sanchez to make it 2-0 on 11 minutes.

Sancho scored his first Chelsea goal in a 5-1 thrashing of bottom-of-the-table Southampton in midweek to earn himself a start.

The Manchester United loanee quickly got the visitors back into the game with a brilliant long-range strike past Fraser Forster.

Somehow that was the end of the scoring in a frantic, fast-paced opening 45 minutes that had plenty of chances on both sides.

Pape Sarr headed towards the crossbar and Solanke should have converted Son’s cross to extend Tottenham’s lead.

At the other end, Forster stretched his long limbs to prevent Palmer and Pedro Neto from equalizing.

Both teams were also fortunate to arrive at the break with 11 men still on the pitch.

Moises Caicedo’s challenge on Sarr was judged not to have excessive force by the VAR official.

Likewise, Kulusevski escaped further punishment for a stray elbow on Roméo Lavia.

Led by Palmer, Chelsea took control after the break to add more salt to Spurs’ wounds and leave Postecoglou’s future up for debate.

The former Australia boss this week lamented the way his team often “shot themselves in the foot”, which proved to be the vital fourth goal.

Yves Bissouma needlessly dived at Caicedo to concede a penalty, which Palmer coolly sent home to equalize.

Palmer played a major role in Chelsea’s third and his shot was blocked after a run into the Spurs box, but the ball fell for Fernandez to head home from the edge of the box.

To compound Tottenham’s woes, their two favorite centre-backs, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, both had to be replaced after returning from injury to start.

Another moment of madness secured the points when Sarr burst into the area with Palmer.

The England international this time brazenly took the Panenka-style kick into the middle of Forster’s goal.

Son converted James Maddison’s cross to set up a nervy finish.

But Enzo Maresca’s men held on to move closer to Liverpool and advance their position as unexpected title contenders.