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Unseen Nicolas Jackson moment saves Enzo Fernandez as Enzo Maresca avoids Chelsea question

Enzo Fernandez celebrates
-Credit: (Image: Shaun Brooks - CameraSport)


One glance at the clock and his mind was made up. "Frantic" was the word Cole Palmer used to describe the game when he made the decision to chip his penalty - his second one of the game - down the middle.

"When I stepped back and looked at the clock I thought it's a bit frantic, the game is all over the place," Palmer told Sky Sports after the game, referring to his second penalty. "I thought the 'keeper was ready to dive so I just chipped it."

Fifty goal involvements in the Premier League now for Palmer in a Chelsea shirt. He has scored 33 goals and registered 17 assists in the process. His 49th and 50th came in an obscene game of football - one that was always set to be, as Palmer said, frantic.

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Two sides whose respective strengths both come in the attacking third. What followed was an end-to-end match of football in the blustery and wet conditions at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. And, with that being said, Bobby Vincent takes a look at the main talking points from Chelsea's incredible 4-3 victory over Spurs...

Jackson saves Fernandez

Who saw this recent transformation from Enzo Fernandez? Yes, we all knew the Argentine was an immensely talented footballer, but, in such a short space of time, he has gone from someone whose role in the setup under Enzo Maresca was being consistently questioned, to a midfielder that is now undroppable.

In his last eight matches for the Blues in all competitions, Fernandez has scored three goals and produced seven assists. Ten goal involvements in seven games. Inspired form - and his goal against Tottenham will undoubtedly be his favourite goal this season.

It was the one that completed the comeback. The one that ended up with crazy scenes in front of the away end. But Fernandez could have gone from hero to zero during those celebrations.

Fernandez - understandably so, to a degree - got caught up in what was an enormous moment. The Argentine was about to rip his shirt off in front of the away end but before he managed to do so, Nicolas Jackson prevented his teammate from doing so.

Jackson pulled down on Fernandez's shirt to stop him getting a booking. Unorthodox? Yes. Heroic? Yes.

The biggest win yet

I tried and tried to get Maresca to admit that was his biggest win yet as Chelsea head coach. Come on, Enzo, it has to be. Away at Spurs, 2-0 down in 11 minutes - how does it get better than that?

Well, Maresca was having none of that, as he told football.london during the post-match press conference : "I don't know, to be honest. I'm not thinking about this. For sure, it's an important win.

"First of all, for the way [Chelsea won]. To come to this stadium against this team and then concede two goals, and continue with the same plan shows how the players in this moment are mentally strong.

"Personally, I don't consider this game as the biggest win. I've said many times, this team is going to win games against big teams and it is going to lose games against big teams because it is football. The only thing I focus on is how we can improve."

The sensible answer. Nobody wants to hear that, Enzo.

Sancho is now thriving

Jadon Sancho clearly got the taste for it down at Southampton on Wednesday. The 24-year-old winger bagged his first goal for the club in the comfortable victory at St. Mary's and he backed that up with another one against Tottenham on Sunday evening.

And it was such a significant as well. Two-nil down at the time, a moment of magic from Sancho from outside of the box got the visitors right back into the game. It changed the whole complexity of the match.

That old cliche - "the next goal is so important". And it was. Sancho made sure he got that but it was not only that from the Manchester United loanee; his dribbling, link-up play and work-rate off the ball were all massively impressive.

On another day, Sancho could have had himself a hat-trick. "Since we started, I said the reason why Jadon came here is because we think Jadon is going to help us," Maresca explained after the game.

"Unfortunately he had small problems, so he was out for a while. Now he is back and the only thing he has to do is continue in the same way. He cannot drop, otherwise he is not going to play.

"His performance and Pedro Neto's, on and off the ball was very good. Off the ball, they were running, following Udogie and defensively they were very good. This is what we need."