Ange Postecoglou has quite the challenge on his hands when it comes to reversing Tottenham's current woes. Three successive defeats in the Premier League and with a Champions League place slipping away from their grasp, Spurs have the small matter of taking on Liverpool at Anfield in their next Premier League encounter.

Their latest Premier League result was one to forget as they fell to a 2-0 defeat away at London rivals Chelsea. Enduring a dismal record at Stamford Bridge having only won once at the Blues' home in the Premier League era, this seemed like the perfect time to put an end to their wretched run in SW6 with Chelsea missing 14 first-team stars and Mauricio Pochettino's team blowing hot and cold.

With Pochettino coming up against Tottenham for only the second time, he shared a warm embrace with Postecoglou prior to the whistle before going on to greet a couple of his former players. Oliver Skipp was one of those and the other was Giovani Lo Celso, who got up from his seat in the dugout and moved across to share a moment with his old Spurs manager.

Pochettino's side have achieved a number of notable results at home this season despite their mixed form, with Thursday evening's victory one that could help them claim a European place come the final day of the season. The Blues caused Tottenham issues from the off with Mykhailo Mudryk heavily involved and were incredibly unlucky not to score in the opening minutes as Micky van de Ven cleared Nicolas Jackson's effort off the line. There was enough power on the Dutchman's clearance to see the ball cannon off Cole Palmer and go over the crossbar from a matter of yards out.

Chelsea kept up the pressure on Spurs and they duly took the lead on 24 minutes. Given their struggles in recent weeks with set-pieces, it was another one that proved to be their undoing as Trevoh Chalobah had the freedom of Stamford Bridge to power home a header beyond Guglielmo Vicario.

It was a very good finish from the centre-back but such a poor one to concede from a Tottenham perspective as he was all alone at the back post. Brennan Johnson wanted the goal to be ruled out following Marc Cucurella's block on him that gave Chalobah a free run but that was not to be the case.

READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings vs Chelsea - Van de Ven good but Sarr, Bissouma and Son poor in defeat

READ MORE: Every word Ange Postecoglou said on Chelsea defeat, James Maddison and taking responsibility

Prior to Chelsea's goal, the hosts had a couple of set-pieces and Mile Jedinak, who is in charge of defensive dead-ball situations, could be seen in the technical area giving out instructions to the Tottenham players. Something that Arsenal's set-piece coach Nicolas Jover was doing from the technical area at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Sunday as the Gunners scored two set-pieces in their 3-2 win, Jedinak doesn't do likewise on home soil as he sits in the stands with the analysts rather than taking his place on the bench.

Keen to put their set-piece woes behind them, Tottenham had a plan in place on corners with Pedro Porro trying to get between the player putting pressure on Vicario in goal. Richarlison also had a key role to play in two corners in the 14th minute as he firstly headed away Mudryk's kick when he was in front of Vicario before then doing the same from Palmer's delivery.

Unfortunately Tottenham weren't to deal with Conor Gallagher's free-kick that Chalobah converted, which in turn has only seen the team's set-piece woes come under the spotlight even more. Tottenham nearly did score from one of their own just prior to the break but Cristian Romero missed a glorious opportunity from six yards after getting the better of Alfie Gilchrist to meet Porro's inviting delivery.

So poor in the first half and with an extremely animated Postecoglou furiously barking orders at his team to get the ball forward more, Tottenham did improve after the restart but still didn't create anything of any real note to test Djordje Petrovic in the Blues goal. They were then to concede from another set-piece in the 72nd minute, this time Jackson heading into the net after Palmer's superb free-kick had rattled the crossbar and bounced kindly to the striker.

Tottenham just didn't lay a glove on Chelsea and the hosts were full value for their win. Speaking to the media in his post-match press conference, Postecoglou highlighted what his team lacked and made it clear that it is his responsibility and he has to look at himself given what happened.

"It wasn't a great night and it's fair to say we didn't play anywhere near the sort of football and didn't have the mindset that I expect us to have," said the 58-year-old. "That's on me and I've got to take responsibility for that ultimately as I'm the one who is putting them out there and preparing them for it. We were so far off it and I've got to look at myself and see how I'm preparing this team for it."

"Like I said, we lacked a real sort of conviction and positive mindset in our football. We didn't really have any fluency, any sort of aggression with and without the ball. It’s a bit unlike us because if nothing else we’ve always been competitive, especially in the first half it was missing today."

So impressive at the start of the term, Tottenham's form has fallen by some considerable distance to put Aston Villa firmly in the driving seat for the top four. A number of the players are not producing the levels they were in the opening months of the campaign, with Porro, Pape Matar Sarr, Yves Bissouma, James Maddison and Son Heung-min just some of those at present struggling to recapture their previous form.

Tottenham's issues in the middle of the park are also proving problematic as the boss changed all three of his players in the starting XI at Stamford Bridge following the Arsenal defeat. Given what happened in west London on Thursday evening, Postecoglou will more than likely tinker with his team for Sunday's game at Anfield.

Following three successive defeats, the set-piece problems and with a number of players out of form, the Australian has quite the task on his hands at present to turn things around at Tottenham. Spurs' end to the season is not going as planned and Postecoglou must find a solution ASAP.

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