Chelsea suffered defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League for just the second time in 36 years on Saturday evening.
The day began on a sour note for the Blues when Joao Pedro was ruled out of the London derby through injury, meaning Geovany Quenda took his place in Xabi Alonso’s starting lineup.
Chelsea clearly missed the Brazilian’s presence as they failed to create meaningful chances against a Spurs side that only secured their first win of the season last weekend.
Disaster struck for the hosts when Mike Penders, standing in for the injured Emi martinez, inadvertently punched the ball into his own net from a corner in the 77th minute.
Moments later a frustrated Cole Palmer was sent off after earning his second booking for stepping on Conor Gallagher.
Mathys Tel put the result beyond doubt with three minutes left on the clock when he won the ball in midfield before driving forward and smashing the ball past the goalkeeper.
Morgan Rogers was fortunate not to see red himself for petulantly swiping at Gallagher in stoppage time.
Xabi Alonso ‘disappointed’ as 10-man Chelsea lose to Spurs
“I think that there were many different moments in the game,” Alonso told BBC Match of the Day. “First half I wanted more intensity. We wanted high pressing but we were not strong enough in duels.
“We had some kind of chances in the first half and in the second half, we talked and we started a bit better. We had a good chance with Pedro [Neto]. We had spoken about how important the first goal would be and when they scored I felt ‘ah, this is not what we wanted’.
“Straightaway almost, came the red card. Disappointed with the result and we have to be honest with the performance, we could have played better.”
Alonso added: “There were moments we planned to be more aggressive and with the ball we lacked a little bit of composure to give more passes. It was about it being a derby and going through difficult moments that you need to manage.
“One key moment was the first goal.”
Alonso refused to use Pedro’s absence as an excuse for the defeat. “It would be so easy to talk about the players we’re missing but with the squad that we have, we believe we can do better with the team that we have. We have to be self-critical and take responsibility.”
As for Palmer’s red card, Alonso said: “I have to check. It was hard for everyone to deal with 1-0 when the game was so close. It affected a bit our emotional control.”
Read – Chelsea injury latest as Pedro and Martinez miss Spurs defeat
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