Jackson treble seals ‘maddest game ever’ with five goals disallowed, two sent off and two forced off
IT was difficult to know who to feel the most sorry for after this night of utter lunacy.
Ange Postecoglou, who lost his unbeaten Premier League record and four key players to red cards and injury.
VAR John Brooks, who was worked as hard as a Victorian chimney sweep in disallowing FIVE goals and reviewing several more controversies.
Or the 61,726 paying punters who paid their hard-earned money to be here, but were left staring at big screens informing them of VAR checks for vast periods of the night as Brooks pored over the decisive incidents across London at Stockley Park.
This match lasted for 113 minutes. The ball found the net on ten occasions. One of the worst players on the pitch, Nicolas Jackson, ended up with a hat-trick.
There were two sendings-off – the first when Cristian Romero was dismissed for attempting to clear the ball – and there could have been a couple more dismissals too.
It was one of the weirdest games of football you could ever see.
Yet there was also a stirring sense of the old school about Tottenham’s nine men holding Chelsea at bay before Jackson’s late strikes.
And they even pressed hard for an unlikely equaliser before the Colombian sealed the deal with a double in injury-time.
Postecoglou will look back on the mayhem with frustration and pride – but the Aussie will look to the immediate future with dread.
The Spurs boss saw Romero and Destiny Udogie sent off, while James Maddison and Micky Van de Ven hobbled off injured – leaving him without four of his best players for Saturday’s trip to Wolves.
Tottenham are only a point behind leaders Manchester City but they are suddenly decimated.
Their central defensive duo of Romero and Van de Ven have been magnificent, while Maddison has been his team’s chief creative influence.
For Mauricio Pochettino – returning to the club he led to a Champions League final for the first time since he was sacked four years ago – this may represent a turning point.
His young Chelsea side have not managed as many points as they had deserved until now, so this was certainly a welcome change in fortune.
Jackson missed two sitters and was one of three Chelsea players to have first-half efforts ruled out, but his three late strikes may ignite his confidence and revive his team’s faltering campaign.
Pochettino’s return, much discussed, was largely ignored by the Tottenham faithful.
And why should they have paid much attention? Their team had been flying, they were hardly going to boo their best manager of the last 40 years and were certainly not going to be given any hero’s reception to a Chelsea boss.
The bedlam did not take long to unfold, Spurs taking the lead inside six minutes, thanks to a sweeping pass from Maddison to pick out Pape Matar Sarr, who fed Dejan Kulusevski.
The Swede’s shot took a massive deflection off Levi Colwill, who had turned his back and left Robert Sanchez helpless.
Soon it was over to Brooks to chalk off four goals in 20 minutes.
First Son Heung-Min was inches offside when he poked home Brennan Johnson’s cross.
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Udogie survived a VAR check for a two-footed challenge on Sterling, who was soon ploughing past a flailing Pedro and netting, only for Brooks to spot that he had handled en route.
In the build-up to that one, Romero escaped punishment for kicking out at Colwill.
Moises Caicedo was the next to be denied by Brooks, the £115million man firing home but Jackson offside and interfering with play.
That ‘let-off’ was a double-edged sword for Spurs, though, as Romero was red-carded for clattering countryman Enzo Fernandes as he tried to clear.
Michael Oliver was sent to his monitor, pointed to the spot and handed Romero a straight red – the home crowd screaming their disapproval.
Cole Palmer equalised from the spot – Vicario pushing onto the inside of the post before it nestled in the opposite corner.
On came the lesser-spotted Eric Dier, just in time for Jackson to turn in a cross from Sterling, who had been offside.
By this stage, Chelsea fans had pretty much given up celebrating their team’s ‘goals’.
Still, the misery continued for Spurs when Van de Ven pulled up with a hamstring injury.
He and Maddison, who had turned an ankle, were withdrawn by Postecoglou – whose half-time must have been spent wondering what on Earth had happened and who was left available.
During 12 minutes of injury-time, Brooks allowed Reece James to get away flailing arm in Udogie’s face.
But the next dismissal was all Oliver’s own work – Udogie sent packing for a wild challenge on Sterling for a second yellow.
From the resulting free-kick, Jackson’s weak header was turned over by a combination of the heroic Vicario and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
The nine men were being roared on by a defiant home support and Chelsea were continually duffing crosses and being caught offside.
When Vicario made an extraordinary block to deny Marc Cucurella, both the keeper and Yves Bissoouma went down for treatment.
Spurs had used all five subs and were briefly contemplating going down to seven.
When the breakthrough finally arrived on 75 minutes, Sterling sprung Tottenham’s high-line offside trap and centred for Jackson to stroke home and there was an inordinately long VAR check from Brooks who must have felt he had been out of the game for too long.
Extraordinarily, the nine men thought they had immediately equalised when Dier volleyed past Sanchez, only for Brooks to eventually rule him offside from Rodrigo Bentacur’s flick-on.
But after Son had been denied an equaliser by Sanchez, Jackson side-footed home a second from Gallagher’s pass and twisted the knife with his third.
