Tottenham offered a real shock opening in the London derby against Chelsea, thanks largely to unexpected help from Chelsea back Marc Cucurella.
Cucurella seemed to have made a bad clearance and slipped twice in the wet – something Tottenham exploited with deadly efficiency. Dominic Solanke pushed in 1–0 in the fifth minute before Dejan Kulusevski sent in 2–0 with his left foot in the eleventh.
In that situation, Cucurella's mistakes had done their job – and for Tottenham, the fun was over. Jadon Sancho reduced (in the 17th), Cole Palmer equalized (penalty in the 61st), and Enzo Fernández clipped in the lead goal (in the 73rd). Palmer then put the nail in the coffin with a beautifully taken "Panenka penalty" (in the 84th). Son Heung-Min reduced to 3–4 late in stoppage time, but Chelsea held on.
Pursuing Liverpool
And perhaps the happiest person after the turnaround was Marc Cucurella, who escaped being the scapegoat after his disastrous start to the match. With the win, Chelsea continues to put some pressure on Liverpool, who are four points behind the league leaders in second place.
For third-placed Arsenal, corners continue to be a deadly weapon. But away against Fulham, it only led to a draw, 1–1, in Sunday's first London derby.
When Arsenal beat Manchester United 2–0 earlier in the week, it was thanks to two corner goals.
Against Fulham, another corner goal came from Arsenal. Kai Havertz nodded down to William Saliba, who in the 52nd minute saw to it that the score was level after the early lead goal from Raúl Jiménez.
Disallowed Winning Goal
According to BBC, Arsenal has scored 23 corner goals since the start of last season – more than any other team in the five largest European football leagues. At Craven Cottage, it looked like Arsenal would also be able to score in other ways, when Bukayo Saka found the net with a header in the final minutes. But a VAR review revealed an offside in the build-up to the goal, which was therefore disallowed.
Arsenal thus has a six-point deficit to Liverpool, who also have a game in hand against both Chelsea and "The Gunners".
