Tottenham produced their best performance under Robert De Zerbi to record a historic win at Chelsea. So, what’s next for them?
In reality, it was only three points.
All Tottenham actually took from their win at Chelsea on Saturday evening was a helpful boost in the Premier League standings. But that doesn’t stop the feeling that this was far more significant than that.
That’s not only the case because it is a fixture that Tottenham almost never win, though that was part of the reason. In 34 Premier League visits before this meeting, they had won only once. It was their first win to nil at Stamford Bridge in any competition since December 1986, nearly 40 years ago.
Winning away at Chelsea is huge. Plenty of Spurs fans have only ever seen this happen once before, in April 2018 under Mauricio Pochettino, when their team was a formidable force.
Tottenham came into this game, meanwhile, in the relegation zone with just one win – over promoted Coventry City – this season, after back-to-back 17th-place finishes, and with noteworthy absentees from their best team. Few will have expected this result, and they are well within their rights to enjoy it.
The real reason this felt so seismic, though, beyond the fact that it moved Spurs up to the heady heights of 12th place in the Premier League – only to drop down to 14th after Sunday’s results – is that there is hope that this result and the excellent performance that accompanied it can prove a turning point for a club that has veered terribly off course over the past two years.
At great expense this summer, Tottenham bought into manager Roberto De Zerbi’s ideas, spending vast amounts to transform the makeup of the team.
Results in the early part of this season hinted that they may, quite naturally, take a while to gel. Spurs took until the 86th minute of their fifth match, at which point they were already 3-0 down to Aston Villa, to score their first league goal of the season.
Since the international break that came after that defeat, though, Spurs put in a much-improved display in drawing 1-1 at Manchester United, though they really deserved to win, and then got their first win of the season against Coventry.
They needed those points more than anything, but scored all three goals from outside the box, and only generated 0.86 expected goals. They probably deserved the win, but it was far from the most convincing display.
But in much tougher and more daunting surroundings away to Chelsea, they produced when it mattered most. Spurs kept the ball effectively, ending with 68.9% possession and although they didn’t create much in the way of clear-cut chances, winning through a freak Mike Penders own goal and a wonderful and surely unrepeatable individual goal from Sandro Tonali as Spurs’ new-look midfield pair finally got to play together for the first time.
Fernandes was exceptional. He had more touches of the ball than any other player from any team has had away from home in a Premier League game this season (124), while also leading for tackles (5) and completing 92.2% of his 102 passes.
He was constantly getting himself and Spurs out of difficult situations. His total of 89 touches under pressure from an opponent was the fifth highest by a player in any Premier League game this season, while his 48 touches while under high pressure (meaning an opponent was within two metres of him) inside his own half was the highest total by anyone in the competition.
Most impressively of all, his pass completion rate while under pressure from an opponent was 91.2%.
Plenty of his passes helped secure possession for his team, but he also progressed play well. He played 27 line-breaking passes, the 12th most by anyone in a Premier League game in 2026-27, but crucially, 21 of those were made while under pressure, which nobody else in the whole division has been able to top all season. And Fernandes did it away to Chelsea.
It appears that if Tottenham needed unlocking to be able to fulfil De Zerbi’s wishes, Fernandes may well be the key. He made it possible for Spurs to bait Chelsea’s press and play through them, getting the ball from back to front consistently and reliably – something Spurs haven’t done for a long while.
In truth, their work once in the final third showed how much there is left to do. Their 58 final-third entries for just 0.74 xG is one of the worst ratios by any team in a Premier League game this season.
But the consistency with which they reached attacking positions with a numerical advantage is a positive indication about what this team can achieve. Nobody in the squad has more than one league goal this season, so they need at least one of
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