Chelsea keep European hopes alive by beating Spurs
Chelsea kept alive their hopes of securing a European place by beating London rivals Tottenham at Stamford Bridge.
Goals from Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson sealed a season-double for Mauricio Pochettino’s side against his former club in the Argentine’s 400th game as a manager in English football.
The Blues dominated the first half but only had Chalobah’s 24th-minute header from a Conor Gallagher free-kick to show for their superiority.
Jackson had an early effort scooped off the line by Micky van de Ven after the striker rolled the ball under the advancing Guglielmo Vicario, with the clearance bouncing off Cole Palmer and over the bar.
Noni Madueke almost added a second with a rasping effort that flew just wide as Chelsea pinned Spurs in their own half.
The visitors should have levelled with a rare attack when Christian Romero was picked out by Brennan Johnson’s free-kick but headed narrowly wide.
Tottenham started the second half the brighter but their only real clear-cut chance was a lovely move involving James Maddison and Son Heung-Min that freed Johnson, but his low cross just missed the outstretched foot of Emerson Royal.
Jackson wrapped up the win when he reacted quickest to Palmer’s superb free-kick which cannoned off the bar, heading past the despairing Vicario.
The win moved Chelsea to eighth in the table – three points behind sixth-placed Manchester United with four games of the season remaining.
Chelsea: Petrovic, Gilchrist (Acheampong 85), Chalobah, Badiashile, Cucurella; Caicedo, Gallagher, Madueke, Palmer, Mudryk (Casadei 74), Jackson.
Subs not used: Bettinelli, Deivid, Sturge, George, Dyer, Castledine, Tauriainen
