Tottenham 1-4 Chelsea: Spurs' Player Ratings as both Romero and Udogie see red in heated London derby | Premier League 2023-24
Tottenham Hotspur fell to a resounding 4-1 defeat against Chelsea in the Premier League on Monday, November 6 - their first loss of the league campaign.
Spurs entered this game on the back of four wins and one draw in their last five games, with their last league outing being a hard-fought 2-1 win over Crystal Palace.
Manager Ange Postecoglou was keen to maintain his side's unbeaten start to the campaign as he fielded a strong XI for this contest.
Tottenham made an electric start to the contest and raced into an early lead after just six minutes. Pape Matar Sarr assisted Dejan Kulusevski for the opening goal, after which Chelsea looked deflated. Trying to make the most of this, Heung-min Son seemed to have doubled the hosts' lead a few minutes later but it was cancelled for offside.
Cristian Romero was shown a straight red card near the half hour-mark for a rash tackle on Enzo Fernandez and Chelsea were awarded a penalty. Cole Palmer stepped up and converted it to level the game after 35 minutes.
The two teams were tied 1-1 at the interval.
The second half did not start all swimmingly for Tottenham as they were reduced to nine men just 10 minutes after the restart. Destiny Udogie lunged into a 50-50 challenge and was worse off as he was shown a second yellow and thus sent off. Things went from bad to worse for the hosts as they also suffered two injuries to James Maddison and Micky van de Ven.
Chelsea made the most of their numerical advantage on the pitch and grabbed the lead after 75 minutes. Sterling turned provider as he set up Nicolas Jackson to score to make it 2-1. With little time to play and Tottenham looking knackered, the Blues pushed forward and looked to kill the game.
Jackson grabbed two more goals in second-half stoppage time to confirm the result as Tottenham were left licking their wounds after a 4-1 defeat.
On that note, let's take a look at Spurs' player ratings.
Tottenham Player Ratings
Guglielmo Vicario - 6.5/10
Vicario had a decent game between the sticks and made three saves. He also distributed the ball with 64% accuracy.
Pedro Porro - 6.5/10
Porro had a decent game on the right flank as he won eight duels, making four tackles and three clearances. He also played one key pass.
Cristian Romero - 5.5/10
Romero was playing with fire right from the start as he escaped a booking, before being sent off for an awful studs-up tackle.
Micky van de Ven - 6/10
The evening went from bad to worse for Tottenham as they lost their primary center-back to what looked like an awful hamstring injury.
Destiny Udogie - 5.5/10
Udogie often lunged into tackles too early and was punished for this as he was sent off for two bookable offences.
Pape Matar Sarr - 7/10
Sarr had a good game in midfield as he bagged an assist but was booked for arguing with the officials late in the first half.
Yves Bissouma - 6.5/10
Bissouma had a decent game in midfield as he won seven duels, making three tackles and two interceptions. He also played two long balls.
Dejan Kulusevski - 7.5/10
Kulusevski bagged the opening goal of the night after just six minutes. He also won six duels and played one key pass in a good performance.
James Maddison - 6/10
Maddison made a decent start to the first half but suffered an injury and was subbed off.
Brennan Johnson - 6/10
Following Romero's sending off, Postecoglou decided to sacrifice Johnson as he replaced him with an extra defender in Eric Dier.
Heung-min Son - 6.5/10
Son appeared to have grabbed a goal in the first half but it was cancelled due to offside. He did not have much of a direct impact on proceedings after that.
Substitutes
Eric Dier - 6/10
Dier came on in the first half and had a mixed performance, including a golden opportunity to level the game when Tottenham were 2-1 down.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg - 7/10
Hojbjerg replaced van de Ven and put in a great performance.
Emerson Royal - 6.5/10
Emerson replaced Maddison and put in a good performance.
Rodrigo Bentancur - 6/10
Bentancur made his return to first-team action following a long injury layoff and put in a decent cameo.
Oliver Skipp - 6/10
Skipp came on just after the hour mark and played well.