Chelsea, Fernandez expose frail Tottenham as West Ham given hope by De Zerbi’s men reverting to type | OneFootball

Mere weeks ago, the prospect of a trip to arch-rivals Chelsea in Tottenham Hotspur’s penultimate game of the 2025/26 campaign filled their supporters with dread, with it looking increasingly likely that the Blues would have the opportunity to condemn them to relegation from the Premier League.

But Tottenham’s dramatic turnaround under new boss Roberto De Zerbi over the past month, plus direct relegation rivals West Ham sh*tting the bed at the worst time, ensured the north London side instead had the chance to seal Premier League survival at Stamford Bridge.

Sitting two points clear of 18th-placed West Ham with a far superior goal difference, a single point from Spurs‘ remaining games against Chelsea and Everton would suffice, but they would have obviously preferred to get over the line in style at Stamford Bridge to ease their heart rate heading into the weekend.

And for the final 15 minutes against Chelsea, it looked likely that De Zerbi’s side would at least get the point they craved to secure survival.

Barring the severe lack of quality in Spurs’ frontline, the difference in performance levels inspired by De Zerbi compared to his predecessors has been night and day, with the players heeding the head coach’s pre-match message “to play with order”.

Mathys Tel came within inches of finding the inside of the post with a header after Tottenham opened the game with a great intent and confidence that has been absent from most of their performances this season.

But, once again, Spurs struggled to combine their neat passing moves with substance in the final third, and their superior opponents clinically punished them.

Ex-Chelsea forward Daniel Sturridge pointed out before the match that Chelsea’s players are “fighting for their futures” ahead of Xabi Alonso’s arrival, and they had “an opportunity” to prove themselves against Spurs.

In the case of Cole Palmer, he has not been anywhere near his best this season and will be keen to re-establish himself as one of the finest attacking midfielders in the Premier League next term.

Palmer’s decline has been one of many contributing factors to a quite shambolic 25/26 campaign for Chelsea, but he took a minor step towards redeeming himself against Spurs with one of his brightest displays of the campaign.

The England international almost single-handedly wrestled back control of the game for Chelsea by nonchalantly pulling the strings before Enzo Fernandez spectacularly broke the deadlock after 18 minutes.

Having been fed the ball 25 yards out, Fernandez touched it out of his feet and fired it into the far corner of the net with the sweetest of strikes to leave goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky with no chance.

It was a moment of stellar individual brilliance that none of Tottenham Hotspur’s players looked capable of replicating, and as much as Fernandez comes with substantial baggage, he is a player around whom Alonso needs to build next season.

And there was further evidence of Fernandez’s quality via Chelsea’s second goal with 25 minutes remaining, which was admittedly incredibly poor from Tottenham’s perspective.

Randal Kolo Muani compounded his latest dire display by carelessly giving up possession with a loose pass to set up a clinical counter-attack, which was always going to be converted after Fernandez showed great vision to caress a pull-back to Andrey Santos to score from close range.

This followed Tottenham’s passive attempts to find an equaliser as they retreated within themselves, with a goal never looking likely until Richarlison fortuitously netted at the back post from a backheeled assist by Kolo Muani that was certainly accidental.

Richarlison’s finish set up a typically silly finale to a London derby between two sides that are at least alarmingly flawed and fragile, but Spurs could not find the equaliser they badly craved and ultimately would not have deserved on the night.

Alonso has understandably been scrutinised for deciding to take on the Chelsea job. Yet the quality of Fernandez and Palmer alone shows that he has something to work with, provided he is given the necessary freedom in the transfer market, and a move towards signing more proven talents to improve their spine.

As for Spurs, their situation is far, far more alarming, and they now have to get something at home against Everton in their final game or hope that West Ham fail to beat Leeds United.

The Hammers did their best to throw in the towel against Newcastle United at the weekend, but they are now truly back in the fight, which is welcome as the one remaining huge narrative for the final day after Arsenal were crowned champions.

And as impressive as Tottenham’s start was against Chelsea, their insipid response to going behind was more notable; it’s hard to have confidence in them holding up their end of the bargain this weekend.