Tottenham lose at Chelsea to take the Premier League relegation scrap to the final day

The hosts almost had a calamitous opening when Jorrel Hato’s loose backpass wrong-footed Robert Sanchez but mercifully went past the post.

On the 10-minute mark, Sanchez was scrambling across his line, yet Mathys Tel’s back-post header came back off the upright.

After surviving those early scares, Chelsea began to find their feet. First, Antonin Kinsky tipped Cole Palmer’s effort around the post just before the quarter-hour mark, but there was nothing he could do when Enzo Fernandez tried his luck three minutes later.

The Chelsea captain curled a pinpoint effort into the bottom corner from 25 yards to open the scoring and reach double figures for PL goals this season.

The hosts had the better of proceedings from that point on with Liam Delap blazing over from inside the box before Fernandez smashed a free-kick from a narrow angle off the crossbar.

Tel nearly cleared the stands with Tottenham’s only riposte, before Palmer’s low effort fizzed past the post in stoppage time as the whistle blew with the hosts in front.

Spurs have picked up 26 of their 38 points so far on the road, so their travelling support had reason to believe their side could get back into things after the break.

Richarlison - left out of the Brazil squad for the World Cup less than 24 hours ago - met Randal Kolo Muani’s cross just before the hour, but his header was held by Sanchez.

However, they were undone on 67 minutes when Pedro Neto’s deep cross was calmly laid back across goal by Fernandez, where Andrey Santos was given too much time to slot home from six yards. 

Spurs looked dead and buried at that point, but Roberto De Zerbi’s side stepped up their comeback efforts and halved the deficit in the 74th minute when substitute Pape Matar Sarr’s backheel in the box was slammed home from close range by Richarlison.

With their vastly superior goal difference compared to West Ham, Tottenham knew a point would all but secure their survival, so they threw the kitchen sink at the Blues as the clock ticked down.

James Maddison came off the bench and had a big chance from a narrow angle blocked by a last-ditch challenge from Hato, and from the resulting corner, Micky van de Ven had a penalty appeal turned down after tangling with Marc Cucurella.

Maddison struck a stoppage-time free-kick over the bar, which meant that Chelsea ended their PL winless run at seven and catapulted themself back into the European places, while also avoiding the ignominy of losing five consecutive home league games for the first time ever.

Tottenham, meanwhile, have now failed to win their last 10 trips to Stamford Bridge, and must avoid defeat against Everton on Sunday or hope Leeds do them a favour against West Ham to ensure they stay up.