Ange Postecoglou looks too far gone with the Europa League saving grace unlikely after Spurs’ no-show vs Chelsea, who should pay to send Jadon Sancho back to Manchester United…
Chelsea’s toothless performance against Arsenal made us question whether they even wanted to win after Enzo Maresca’s side willfully allowed their London rivals to coast to the easiest of victories.
This weak showing left Chelsea with the same points tally as Manchester United since their Premier League title challenge started to evaporate in mid-December.
In this time, Spurs have been even worse as Championship-bound Southampton, Leicester City and Ipswich Town are the only Premier League teams with fewer points in 2025 than Postecoglou’s side.
Tottenham’s injury crisis is a mitigating factor, but even their patched-up squad has massively underperformed and not turned up in far too many games this season.
Their injury issues have eased with all of their eggs in the Europa League basket as Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven started together against Chelsea.
This is the first time they have each started since the reverse fixture against Chelsea in December, in which they were forced off after being rushed back from injury.
History did not repeat itself on Thursday night, but the Spurs duo had a rough evening against a returning Nicolas Jackson, who gave Chelsea the focal point that was sorely lacking vs Arsenal and in previous pre-international break fixtures.
Jackson’s lively return to action contributed to an improved performance from Chelsea, who showed intent from the opening whistle and almost took the lead within a minute as Van de Ven touched the ball onto the post.
The striker’s development has eased Chelsea’s need to sign a top-tier striker, but issues remain in wide areas, with Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto continuing to infuriate.
Sancho had the best chance of the opening of the first half; his effort was superbly tipped over the bar by an overwise erratic Guglielmo Vicario.
However, it was another disappointing game for Sancho as he mostly insisted on dribbling into a tackle or going for a pass when in a shooting opportunity, which royally wound up the home crowd.
Sancho’s bright start to this campaign has been undermined by a dramatic decline; months of ineffectiveness have sapped his confidence to the point where the £5m penalty charge to send him back to Man Utd looks a bargain.
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Cole Palmer has also had his confidence knocked as Chelsea’s nonchalant star man has proven he’s human, but normality was restored against Tottenham as he produced a big moment.
Chelsea dominated the first half as the visitors failed to register a shot on target in a tepid performance, but the host’s lack of a clinical edge – even against such a poor opponent – threatened to put Maresca and his side under more pressure via a glaring missed opportunity to capitalise on a visit from Dr Tottenham.
Thankfully for Maresca, Palmer sparred his blushes. His pinpoint cross was headed home from close range by Enzo Fernandez. He and Moises Caicedo were Chelsea’s two best players on the night; the latter is unfortunate not to feature in our team of the season so far.
This derby did not come close to matching the seven-goal thriller in December, but Thursday’s match was not without incident as Caicedo (correctly for offside in the build-up) and Pape Sarr (correctly for a foul) had goals chalked off by VAR, which a touchy and straw-clutching Postecoglou focused on post-match after his latest clashes with Spurs supporters provided further evidence that they have grown tired of one another.
Even with the World Cup winner and Van de Ven finally back together, Spurs were wide open in defence and would have been on the end of a one-sided hammering against a Premier League foe in a more rampant mood.
Pre-match, Jamie Redknapp said this season would be “unbelievable” for Spurs if they win the Europa League, but this feels like a big ask after Postecoglou’s underdelivering team didn’t do nearly enough to trouble an off-peak Chelsea and will come unstuck against the Bundesliga’s third-placed side, Eintracht Frankfurt, if there’s not a spark improvement to save the Aussie’s job, which is slipping away from him.
As for Chelsea, there were positives with the promising return of Jackson, Palmer getting the monkey off his back with his first goal involvement since February, Fernandez’s all-action performance and Caicedo establishing himself as “one of the best defensive midfielders in the world”.
The Blues are a far cry from the side they were at the start of this season, but – much like for Liverpool in Wednesday’s Merseyside derby – the victory was the most important thing tonight to restore order.
As Redknapp said pre-match, a win tonight could be the “catalyst” for an upturn in form during the run-in to seal Champions League qualification, which they need to grasp because this version of Chelsea will still be picked off against superior opposition to Spurs.
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