Chelsea 1 Tottenham 0 – Maresca relief, Postecoglou pressure, and will Eintracht be concerned?

This was a frantic contest, a fractious and spiky derby between bitter rivals but, ultimately, it followed an all too familiar script.

Chelsea tend to beat Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge and the visitors’ wretched record now reads one win there in 33 Premier League visits. While the hosts celebrated their restoration to the top four, conviction that they can qualify for the Champions League pepped once again, Spurs limped away defeated and deflated. With each ineffective performance and dissent audible from the stands, time feels as if it is ticking down on Ange Postecoglou’s tenure as manager.

Enzo Maresca’s side might have dispatched the visitors early on. They struck the woodwork inside the opening minute, the restored Nicolas Jackson bursting through with Micky van de Ven’s attempted clearance cannoning off the striker and on to the post, and carried the greater threat throughout. Enzo Fernandez was denied on the line by a nervy Guglielmo Vicario. If the Italian’s decision-making was occasionally erratic, he did conjure a fine save to deny Jadon Sancho just before half-time.

Yet he was helpless as Fernandez, completely unmarked, headed home Cole Palmer’s delicious cross early in the second half. Moises Caicedo’s stunning volley was cancelled out for offside against Levi Colwill in the buildup and, while that was greeted with relief by Tottenham, they, too, were left frustrated after Pape Sarr’s equaliser from distance was also ruled out after a VAR consultation for a foul by the substitute. His only reward was a booking.

The nearest they came to salvaging a point thereafter was when Son Heung-min forced a save from Robert Sanchez, but, despite 12 minutes of added time at the end leaving nerves shredded, Chelsea survived.

Simon Johnson, Jay Harris and Anantaajith Raghuraman dissect the key talking points at Stamford Bridge.

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How did Chelsea exploit the return of Jackson and Palmer?

Nicolas Jackson’s return to the starting XI after two months out through injury prompted a much better attacking performance from Chelsea than of late.

The Senegalese striker offers a focal point and was the target of multiple long balls, including in the first minute from Trevoh Chalobah, resulting in Chelsea hitting the post. Overall, Maresca’s men attempted 31 long passes in the first half — their fourth most in the first half of a league game this season — with many of those directed at Jackson.

His movement was complemented by an interesting tactic to deploy Cole Palmer on the left. In possession, that helped Chelsea overload Tottenham’s right side with Palmer, Marc Cucurella and Jadon Sancho, while Cucurella could also drop into a back three while building up or when the visitors had the ball.

Sancho actually put in an improved performance despite frustrating on occasion and could have scored if not for Vicario’s brilliant save just before the interval, while Palmer, who still had the freedom to drift into central areas, assisted Fernandez’s opener with a cross from the left.

Chelsea mixed things up on occasion with long switches to Pedro Neto on the right. The Portuguese delivered a couple of decent crosses, including one for Sancho’s saved effort, while causing problems with his pace to win fouls.

Overall, the returns of Jackson and Palmer allowed for fluidity and variety — words that have not been associated with Chelsea too often in recent months.

Anantaajith Raghuraman

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How did Romero and Van de Ven fare?

The reunion of Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, who were starting together in a Premier League game for the first time since December, was supposed to make Tottenham more defensively solid, but they were extremely lucky not to concede inside the opening minute.

Chalobah’s pinged long ball for Jackson caused chaos with Romero and van de Ven scrambling to catch up with him. Jackson’s shot bounced off Vicario and Van de Ven tried to clear the ball, but it hit Chelsea’s striker and flew onto the post.

When Van de Ven was fouled in the 45th minute, Romero came charging over and bundled Levi Colwill to the ground which sparked a brief fracas between the two sides. Romero and Chalobah were both booked. It was needless from the Argentina international and underlines that he gets wound up too easily.

Then there was the concession of Chelsea’s opener: Van de Ven and Romero became so focused on shutting down Jackson that they completely missed the run of Fernandez who snuck into the box to score from Palmer’s cross.

Tottenham’s defence was not helped by an erratic first-half performance from Vicario.

He wildly punched a cross from Cole Palmer which looked easier to catch, dribbled along his goal line before making a pass which hit Pedro Neto and then put the ball straight out of play under no pressure when attempting a simple return pass to Romero. At least Vicario redeemed himself to a certain extent with a superb save from Sancho just before half-time, but his performance did not provide reassurance for those immediately ahead of him.

Maybe Spurs were rusty given this particular set of players have not started together in a long time, and they had an extra few days off following the international break. Either way, this performance will have given Eintracht Frankfurt, their opponents in the quarter-final of the Europa League, a lot of encouragement. One point from four top-flight games is a troubling return.

Jay Harris

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Did Sancho take his chance?

There were many Chelsea players needing to prove a point against Tottenham, but few needed to do so more than Jadon Sancho.

Since Chelsea played their last Premier League fixture against Arsenal before the international break, The Athletic had reported that the London club have to pay Manchester United just £5million to opt out of turning the England international’s loan move into a permanent one this summer.

Sancho has struggled for form in recent months. Indeed, the last of his two Premier League goals came against Spurs in December. With time running out to show to Chelsea why they should spend between £20-25m to buy him, a good display against Tottenham would have been the perfect reminder of his qualities.

The England international certainly saw plenty of the ball in the first half on the left hand side. But the crowd grew increasingly frustrated as he kept cutting inside into traffic and losing possession. The sounds of discontent were particularly loud as two runs within a minute ended with the same result, a Tottenham player coming away with the ball.

In saying that, Sancho was providing Chelsea’s attack with good balance and he came close to putting the home side in front just before the break. It took a fine stop from Vicario to deny him.

He saw less of the ball after the break, even though Chelsea did find some end product in front of goal. With his output decreasing, Maresca brought on Noni Madueke. Sancho was applauded off warmly by the home fans, but, for all the flashes of promise, this felt like another opportunity missed.

Simon Johnson

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Were the two goals correctly ruled out?

In short, yes.

Caicedo’s goal was a splendid volleyed finish after Tottenham wasted two chances to clear the ball from a free-kick. It took several minutes for VAR Jared Gillett to determine if Colwill, who initially attacked the delivery, was offside. Destiny Udogie on one side and Djed Spence on the other had their arms outstretched, complicating the decision. The Chelsea defender was deemed to be offside and the goal was ruled out, but it will divide opinion — at least until the Premier League introduces semi-automated offside in matchweek 32.

Sarr’s goal was a clearer infringement.

After Dominic Solanke rose to contest a header against Caicedo, Sarr took over and dribbled past both of them before firing an effort that cannoned in off the woodwork at Sanchez’s near-post. Chelsea looked furious and the VAR replays showed why as Sarr’s studs had met the side of Caicedo’s knee before the Tottenham midfielder’s run forward. The incident occurred just minutes after Sarr and Caicedo exchanged words following a tussle in Chelsea’s penalty area after the Tottenham substitute claimed Caicedo had impeded him despite there being minimal contact.

Postecoglou cups his hand to his ear and waves at the Spurs fans after Sarr scores from distance. They had booed the decision to take Bergvall off for Sarr earlier on.

— Jack Pitt-Brooke (@JackPittBrooke) April 3, 2025

Both were well-struck efforts worthy of a goal, but were rightfully ruled out.

Anantaajith Raghuraman

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What will Eintracht Frankfurt make of this?

Eintracht Frankfurt are the third-highest scorers in the Bundesliga and thrashed Ajax 6-2 on aggregate in the last round of the Europa League. Hugo Ekitike has been in exceptional form with 19 goals in all competitions this season. They will be licking their lips at the prospect of taking on Tottenham after witnessing this performance.

Postecoglou’s side were consistently carved open from counter attacks and looked disorganised at set-pieces. Lucas Bergvall powerfully strode forward on a couple of occasions but, otherwise, their midfield was completely anonymous.

Dejan Kulusevski was having an impressive individual season before he suffered a foot injury in February — although the quality of his performances did drop off after Christmas due to fatigue. Yet Tottenham’s ineffective and lethargic display against Chelsea reminded you of how overly reliant they have been on Kulusevski to produce a piece of magic. Postecoglou said on Wednesday that the Sweden international “has a chance” of being fit for the second leg against Frankfurt and they desperately need him to recover in time.

Dominic Solanke works diligently out of possession but he is starved of service and support; he had the fewest touches of any starter on Thursday night. Son Heung-Min beat Malo Gusto a couple of times but has underperformed throughout this campaign.

Tottenham’s season, and potentially Postecoglou’s future, hinges on them winning the Europa League final in Bilbao on May 21. They need to find inspiration to reach that showpiece, though. At present it is difficult to work out who will provide it and how they navigate what will be a difficult tie against the German side.

Jay Harris

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What does this result mean for Chelsea?

You could tell pretty much from the outset how much this game meant to Maresca.

The Italian is not the most subdued in the technical area, but this was as animated as he has been all season. Forget the importance of coming out on top against Tottenham — Maresca knew how vital it was just to get a good result for Chelsea’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

They went into the fixture having dropped to sixth behind Manchester City and Newcastle United, plus Aston Villa’s win at Brighton meant Unai Emery’s men had closed within a point at their back. Now they are restored and have a hint of breathing space.

Chelsea are unbeaten at Stamford Bridge in 2025 and have won their last five games here in succession. Clearly home form is counting where it matters the most as Maresca’s side held on. Their Italian head coach might need a lie down to recover from this one, but seeing Chelsea back in fourth should calm his nerves.

Simon Johnson

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What did the managers say?

We will bring you the thoughts of Maresca and Postecoglou once they have spoken at their post-match press conferences.

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What next for Chelsea?

Sunday, April 6: Brentford (Away), Premier League, 2pm UK, 9am ET

What next for Spurs?

Sunday, April 6:  Southampton (Home), Premier League, 2pm UK, 9am ET

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(Top photo: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

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