Premier League: Chelsea 1 – 0 Spurs Match Review

Enzo Maresca and his Chelsea team secured a crucial victory against their fierce London rivals Spurs, with the Blues strengthening their grip on their place in the top four following the game at Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening.

Midweek action in the 2024/25 Premier League season came to a close with a game between two fierce London rivals, with Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea going toe to toe with a Spurs side at Stamford Bridge, who were led by their Australian Head Coach Ange Postecoglou on Thursday evening. In this game, the Blues were not only looking for local bragging rights, they were also looking for what would be an invaluable set of three points as they look to guarantee their place in next season’s UEFA Champions League by the time that their current campaign concludes later this year.

Heading into this game, Chelsea had come off the back of an unfortunate 1 – 0 defeat at the hands of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, but they had secured crucial 4 – 0 and 1 – 0 victories at Stamford Bridge against Ivan Jurić’s Southampton and Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester City in the heart of West London in the two matchdays that preceded the Blues’ clash with the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium.

In the end, it was to be a momentous 1 – 0 victory in the Premier League against Ange Postecoglou and his Spurs side at the home of the Blues on Thursday evening thanks to a winning goal that was scored at the very start of the second half by their World Cup winning Argentine international central midfielder Enzo Fernandez (50’). It was an enthralling game where the Blues deserved to come away with the win, but there were some moments where Spurs looked as if they might be able to come away from Stamford Bridge with something.

Match Highlights

Here, you can take a look back at the game via these highlights. Re-live the action from Chelsea’s crucial 1 – 0 victory against Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs at Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening.

Match Review

Once the action had got underway, it was within the first couple of minutes that the first two chances of the game came for both the visitors and the hosts. It was Chelsea who had the opening chance through their Portuguese international forward Pedro Neto, who unfortunately for the Blues had his shot get blocked by the Lilywhites’ defence on that occasion (1’).

Spurs’ talismanic forward Son Heung-Min then had a chance himself to open the scoring, this time for the visiting Tottenham Hotspur side, with the South Korea international’s effort also getting blocked by their opposition’s defenders (2’).

Chelsea then had the next few chances to open in the scoring in a first half that saw Chelsea take control without really ever loosening their grip on proceedings throughout the first forty five minutes of this game.

Firstly, it was right back Malo Gusto, who missed the target narrowly with a shot from within the penalty box at close range (7’). Jadon Sancho, on loan from Manchester United, then had a shot blocked by the Tottenham defenders himself with just over ten minutes gone in this game, and so it remained level on the scoreline in this contest at 0 – 0 (11’).

Nicolas Jackson then had an even better chance to open the scoring for Chelsea, with the forward coming the closest of any of the players on the pitch to scoring the opening goal of the game at this point, with him forcing a great save from Tottenham’s Italian Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario with almost fifteen minutes having gone (14’).

Jackson had another effort with almost half an hour gone, missing the target after being given the ball by the aforementioned Pedro Neto (29’), before a chance then came for the visitors Spurs, which saw their 19 year old Swedish central midfielder Lucas Bergvall had their shot blocked well by the Chelsea defenders (33’).

Then, just before the half time whistle went, Vicario was forced into another great save, this time due to the efforts of England forward Jadon Sancho, whose effort on goal from close range in the penalty area was well saved by the Italian stopper and forward Sancho had been able to meet a cross into the box from Neto (45’).

The half time whistle then went with the two teams going into their respective dressing rooms at the break at Stamford Bridge with them on level terms at 0 – 0, with neither club having been able to break the deadlock up until this point in the game.

Then, no less than five minutes into the second half, the deadlock between these two local London rivals was finally broken when Chelsea was able to take the lead thanks to a goal from their Argentine World Cup winning midfielder Enzo Fernandez, who was able to find the top left corner of the Spurs net with a close range header after being able to meet a great cross into the box from Cole Palmer. Palmer himself had an effort saved well just moments before that (50’).

Fernandez then almost made it 2 – 0 with a strike that narrowly missed the target from close range just a few minutes later after he had given his team the lead (54’).

Chelsea had thought they had made it 2 – 0 just a few minutes after this chance on goal thanks to a spectacular strike from Blues midfielder Moises Caicedo, but his effort was ruled out thanks to a VAR review thanks to an offside call by the officials (57’).

Then, with just less than twenty minutes of the game remaining Spurs thought they had scored a goal themselves, with an incredible strike from their own midfielder Pape Matar Sarr finding the back of the Chelsea net, only for this goal to also be ruled out in what would have been an equalising goal to restore parity in this contest. It was ruled out for a foul on the aforementioned Caicedo in the build-up (71’).

In the remainder of the game, there were plenty of chances for both clubs to add another goal to the scoreline. The chance that was arguably the best for Chelsea in the final half an hour of the game came through Cole Palmer, who had a shot well saved by Vicario with less than ten minutes to go in this contest (83’).

As for Spurs, their next best chance of scoring that all-important equalising goal to restore parity came thanks to Son Heung-Min, who was able to force a great save from Chelsea’s Spanish Stopper Robert Sanchez (89’).

The final whistle then went following no less than 12 minutes’ worth of stoppage time at the end of the second half, with Chelsea’s crucial 1 – 0 Premier League victory over their local London rivals Tottenham Hotspur being confirmed.

As a result of this game, Chelsea are now in 4th place, but now with no less than 52 points to their name with a gap of just 5 points separating themselves from high flying Nottingham Forest in third place. They are also just a point ahead of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in 5th place, 2 ahead of Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United in 6th place, as well as being 4 points ahead of Unai Emery and his Aston Villa side in 7th.

Match Stats

Overall, neither side were able to dominate the possession, with both of the clubs sharing 50% of the possession across the ninety minutes plus the stoppage time. Chelsea did have more shots and shots on target – they had 5 shots on target to Spurs’ 2 in total, whilst the Blues had no less than 11 shots in general overall, whilst Tottenham had 8.

What Enzo Maresca said

This is what the current Chelsea Head Coach Enzo Maresca had to say following this momentous and highly crucial 1 – 0 victory over their local London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge (via the Official Chelsea Website):

“Tonight was very important, first of all because of the performance. We know how important it is in this moment to win games, but since we started we try to win games in the way we want and I think tonight the performance as very good and we are happy.

‘Probably since day one we don’t work every day to win the game in the way that we played in the last 10 minutes, in terms of waiting for them and giving the ball to them. But if you want to become a team I think you need to also learn to play how we played in the last 10 minutes, to win a game in a dirty way.

“I think for 90 minutes, until the added time, we were in control, we created enough chances to win the game. We created enough chances in the first half.

“To be honest that might have been my mistake because I made a change before I saw the added time and, when I saw it was 12 minutes, I thought it was probably too early to make that kind of change. Fortunately we won the game and we are happy.”

Excitement is now building against the weekend’s Premier League action, with Chelsea set to take on Brentford when they make the trip to face the Bees, led by their Danish Head Coach Thomas Frank at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday 6^th April, with the game itself set to kick off at 14:00 in the afternoon.

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