A fiercely contested London derby ended with Tottenham Hotspur scoring a last-gasp equaliser to salvage a 2-2 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Marc Cucurella marked his Chelsea debut with an assist as his corner was expertly volleyed home by centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly, who peeled away from his man at the set piece 19 minutes in.
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Raheem Sterling nearly doubled Chelsea’s lead on the hour mark, but fired over after Ruben Loftus-Cheek‘s smart build-up. Harry Kane immediately broke up the other end, but with only Edouard Mendy to beat, the striker fired wide.
Eight minutes later, Spurs found their equaliser in controversial circumstances. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg nestled a low effort from outside the area into the bottom corner, sparking confrontation between Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel on the touchline — both received bookings. Tuchel expressed his fury to referee Anthony Taylor for the decision to not award his side a free-kick following Rodrigo Bentancur‘s tackle on Kai Havertz in the build-up.
But the sides weren’t level for long, as Chelsea retook their lead 13 minutes from time. A ball into Sterling exposed Spurs’ left-hand side, which the on-rushing Reece James took advantage of to fire past Hugo Lloris. Just nine minutes after squaring up with Conte, Tuchel was running down the touchline to celebrate what he thought was his side’s winner.
However, 30 seconds from time, Kane nodded home a dramatic equaliser from a corner, which took a deflection off goalscorer James to ensure a share of the spoils. Another confrontation between Tuchel and Conte followed the final whistle, with both managers receiving a red card.
“I thought when we shake hands you looked in each others’ eyes; he had a different opinion. It was not necessary but a lot of things were not necessary,” Tuchel said when asked about the red card incident.
“We dominated for 90 minutes. We were sharp, we were hungry, it was a top performance. I’m sorry for all my players that we didn’t get the result we deserved.”
Spurs striker Kane, who scored his first goal of the season to level the game late on said: “Stamford Bridge hasn’t been our best place over the years so to come away with a point especially at the end was a good feeling.
“It’s disappointing to see the red cards. Obviously it was an emotional game, London derby, the passion from both sides, both teams wanted to win.”