Chelsea did our part on Tuesday evening in a game delayed three days by our involvement in the FA Cup final, fighting to victory over London rivals Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. However, Bournemouth's draw with Manchester City earlier in the evening ended our chances of UEFA Champions League qualification regardless, as we can now finish no higher than seventh in the Premier League.
Despite that disappointment, there was still a derby triumph to celebrate, complete with the knowledge that we send Spurs into the final day of the Premier League season still in danger of relegation.
Both teams hit the woodwork during a tight first half, Fernandez the crossbar when catching Antonin Kinsky out of position with a free-kick, Mathys Tel the post with a header. But it was Chelsea who found the net in those opening 45 minutes, Fernandez firing a brilliant strike into the bottom corner from long range.
Andrey Santos turned in from close range to make it 2-0 after the break, only for Richarlison to do the same moments later and peg the scoreline back to 2-1. With Jorrel Hato producing a brilliant challenge late on to snuff out Spurs' best chance of an equaliser, that was the way it stayed until the full-time whistle, as Chelsea edged a fierce derby at the Bridge.
The selection
The Blues reverted to a back four at the Bridge, with defenders Levi Colwill, Malo Gusto and Reece James missing out as Calum McFarlane made four changes to the team that started the FA Cup final. Robert Sanchez was between the post, with Josh Acheampong coming into the defence alongside Wesley Fofana, Jorrel Hato and Marc Cucurella.
Andrey Santos returned in midfield with Moises Caicedo, while Enzo Fernandez captained the side. Pedro Neto came in on the left flank, with Cole Palmer on the other wing, behind striker Liam Delap, who replaced Joao Pedro.
Back and forth
When the game kicked off in the roaring atmosphere to be expected for a big London derby at Stamford Bridge, we initially made the early running, but found it tough to seize the initiative for a spell afterwards.
There was a dangerous moment early on when Hato cut out a pass across the edge of the Chelsea box by Randal Kolo Muani. It was a vital intervention to prevent the ball reaching Richarlison, but in doing so the defender was perilously close to diverting it into his own net, with Sanchez wrong-footed.
Thankfully it bobbled wide and nothing came of the resulting Tottenham corner. Most of Spurs’ early threat came down their right flank with that combination of Kolo Muani and Pedro Porro, but Cucurella stuck to his task diligently, supported by Fernandez, who was operating in an unfamiliar position wide on the left in front of him.
It was from that area the visitors almost found an opening goal after 10 minutes, when Mathys Tel met Porro’s cross with a diving header, but thankfully for the Blues his effort came back off Sanchez’s near post.
Fernandez’s position on the left allowed Palmer to operate through the middle, and it was via our No10 that we responded to Tottenham’s early threat, as he exchanged passes with Hato on the edge of the area to curl a shot goalwards, but Antonin Kinsky managed to get across his line to palm it away.
Advantage Chelsea
A few minutes later, there was nothing Kinsky could do to prevent the Blues taking the lead. It was a well-worked move, with a clever reverse pass by Palmer to Neto, and the Portuguese winger finding Fernandez in space in the centre.
The midfielder needed no second invitation as the Spurs defenders backed off, letting loose a stunning strike that moved in the air and kept the goalkeeper guessing before nestling into the bottom corner of the net.
It was clear it would take more than that to knock the fight out of Tottenham this time, though. They continued to make us work hard, with vital challenges by Cucurella and Santos to keep them at bay.
At the other end, Fernandez rattled the woodwork as he went agonisingly close to his and Chelsea’s second goal, catching Kinsky out of position from a wide free-kick, only to see it bounce up off the crossbar.
Keeping Spurs at arm's length
The Blues back line continued to stand strong. While we only rarely threatened to extend our lead further, neither did we allow Tottenham a sniff of goal. The visitors had plenty of the ball in the closing stages of the first half, but it was all at a safe distance from our penalty area.
It was a similar story when the second half got under way. Tottenham were having more of the ball than Chelsea, but we still appeared to have things in hand. The only time Spurs had shown any threat 10 minutes into the second period as a cross met by Richarlison, but the Brazilian was clearly offside and made a mess of his header to send it well wide anyway.
The next time the ball came into our box the outcome was the same. On this occasion Richarlison was onside, but his header down was tame and no problem for Sanchez to gather. During this spell the key battle seemed to have switched to our right, where Acheampong was impressing has he kept on top of Dutch forward Tel.
As you were
With just over 20 minutes remaining, Spurs' frustration had begun to show, and Chelsea punished a momentary lack of concentration to extend our lead. A loose pass across the halfway line was seized upon by Palmer, who quickly fed Neto on the right flank. The Portuguese international's cross was deep, but found Fernandez in plenty of space to roll it back across goal, where Santos arrived first to turn in from eight yards.
However, while the Blues hoped that would kill off Tottenham's threat for good, they pulled a goal back almost immediately, Porro and Pape Matar Sarr feeding the ball on across our box until it found Richarlison unmarked at the back post to score from close range. We were back to where we were a few minutes earlier.
In the end, those two second-half goals in quick succession had no bearing on the final outcome, as the difference between the teams was the same at the full-time whistle as it had been at the half-time whistle, a narrow one-goal advantage for Chelsea. It took a brilliant last-ditch tackle by Hato on James Maddison late on to keep it that way, but all three points were staying in west London.
What it means
Despite our victory, Bournemouth's draw with Manchester City - in a game which kicked off 45 minutes earlier - means our chances of finishing sixth and claiming possible UEFA Champions League qualification have been ended. We now head to Sunderland on the final day in eighth place as one of four teams - including our opponents - in the fight for a spot in next season's UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League.
What is next
There is just one final game left in the season, and it arrives this weekend. Chelsea travel north on the last day of the Premier League to take on Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Every match on the final game week kicks off together at 4pm on Sunday 24 May.
The teams
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Acheampong (Chalobah 74), Fofana (Sarr 81), Hato, Cucurella; Caicedo, Santos; Neto (Garnacho 89), Palmer (Essugo 89), Fernandez (c); Delap (Mheuka 89)
Unused subs: Jorgensen, James, Derry, Kavuma-McQueen
Scorers: Fernandez 18, Santos 67
Booked: Hato 79, Cucurella 86, Delap 87, Essugo 90+2
Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1): Kinsky; Porro, Danso, Van de Ven (c), Udogie (Spence 69); Bentancur, Palhinha (Sarr 69); Kolo Muani (Maddison 69), Gallagher, Tel; Richarlison
Unused subs: Vicario, Dragusin, Souza, Bergvall, Bissouma, Gray
Scorer: Richarlison 73
Booked: Porro 28, Van de Ven 42, Udogie 63
Referee: Stuart Attwell