Full Time
Tottenham won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, a ground where they had won just once in their previous 34 league visits. Chelsea keeper Mike Penders punched a corner into his own net in the second half, and Mathys Tel put the game to bed late on with a solo run and a low finish into the corner. Cole Palmer was sent off for a second yellow after earlier escaping with only a booking for an off-the-ball incident, which left Chelsea facing a long evening and an even longer inquest. Roberto De Zerbi's side were the better team throughout and it's their second win in six days. That leaves Chelsea on 13 points from Matchweek 8 results so far with three defeats in eight, while Spurs climb to 10 points and some breathing space from the bottom half.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Matchweek 8, and the table is doing something unusual: Chelsea are 4th on 13 points, while Tottenham are 14th on 7 after one win in seven. Win and Chelsea stay in touch with the top three. Lose and Spurs are suddenly looking over their shoulder at the bottom half, where only two points separate 14th from bottom. Basically nobody is safe, and a derby is a funny time to find that out.
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2This is a proper London derby, and the last big one in memory was a 4-3 Chelsea win at Spurs with Cole Palmer scoring two penalties. Four goals in a Chelsea-Spurs game is not unusual, which is a handy thing to say if anyone asks whether this one will be tight. Neither set of fans will forget a loss to the other for quite a while.
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3Player to watch is Cole Palmer. He is the man who calmly slotted those two penalties in that 4-3 win, and he tends to turn up when the occasion is big. Chelsea were beaten 3-0 at Brentford in September, so they will want him to be the difference here. If you only remember one name from the match, make it his.
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4On team news, reports on Friday suggested Pep Chavarria is not expected to make it and that Reece James is out after knee surgery. Chelsea are also said to be without a few other bodies, so the back line is the thing to watch. Check the confirmed team sheets about an hour before kick-off, because this is the sort of match where the line-up tells the story.
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5The hook: Spurs have drawn four of their seven games, more than anyone else bar Brentford, Leeds and Everton. Draws are their thing, so a point at Stamford Bridge would be on brand. Chelsea, meanwhile, have scored 15 goals in seven. Something has to give, and it is probably the goalkeeper's evening.
Team Talking Points
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1Chelsea limped into the international break after a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland, settled by an Enzo Le Fée penalty in the first half. It dropped them to fifth, out of the Champions League places, and it was their fourth league defeat in ten games.
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2Xabi Alonso – appointed in the summer on a four-year deal to revive things – didn't sugar-coat it, saying Chelsea 'didn't deserve more than probably one point' and lacked patience and quality in the final third. The honesty is refreshing; the stats are less so.
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3Here's the worrying number: across games against Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester United and Sunderland, Chelsea scored just one goal from open play. For a squad that cost what this one did, that's a lot of very expensive passing sideways.
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4They've also been beaten 3-0 by Brentford this season, back in October. Chelsea fans would rather you didn't bring that one up, so maybe save it for when you want to change the subject quickly.
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5There's still plenty of time – they're only two points off the top four, six behind second-placed Brighton. And they're not shy about January: reports this week say Chelsea are among the clubs monitoring Arsenal's unhappy midfielder Martin Zubimendi.
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Top thing to say down the pub
One open-play goal in four games isn't what anyone had in mind when Xabi Alonso walked through the door – the break's come at a decent time for him.
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Avoid saying
"Just sack the manager" – it's Chelsea, so it's the reflex joke, but Alonso's only been in the job since the summer – ten games is not a fair trial. Say it and you'll sound like you think it's still 2012.
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1Spurs lost 1-0 at Leeds last Saturday. Noah Okafor came off the bench and scored 11 minutes from the end. It ended a decent run for Tottenham, and it ended Leeds' five-game winless streak, which made it even more annoying.
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2Manager Roberto De Zerbi lost his temper over a second-half booking for Pedro Porro and got booked himself. That earns him a one-game touchline ban, so he'll be stuck in the stands for the first game back, at home to Ipswich on Saturday 21 November.
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3De Zerbi is the permanent boss after a busy spell in the dugout. Thomas Frank was sacked and Igor Tudor had a short interim stint before De Zerbi arrived. Spurs fans have had a lot of new names to learn.
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4Fan reaction to Leeds has been grumpy. Some supporters' sites have criticised De Zerbi's tactics, and there's been chat about Porro's form and Mohammed Kudus being left isolated out on the right wing. Mention Kudus looking lonely and you'll sound like you watched the whole 90 minutes.
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5To be fair, it was only their second league defeat in eight games, so this isn't a crisis. Just don't tell that to a Spurs fan the week after losing at Elland Road.
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Top thing to say down the pub
De Zerbi's going to be watching the Ipswich game from the stands, which is probably the calmest he'll be all season.
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Avoid saying
"Typical Spurs." Fans have heard it from every rival since about 1961, and it hits harder after a late defeat at Leeds. You'll get an eye-roll and a lecture about the Europa League trophy.