Senegalese international Nicolas Jackson scored his first hat-trick in the Premier League as Chelsea saw off nine-man Tottenham Hotspur in their London Derby clash on Monday night.
The former Villarreal man benefited from Spurs’ player deficiency to score his three goals in the 75th, 94th, and 97th minutes to help the Blues bounce back from their disappointing defeat to Brentford last weekend.
⚽️⚽️⚽️#TotChe pic.twitter.com/kGzpE4k3Oq
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) November 6, 2023
The match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium marked the return of Mauricio Pochettino to the North London outfit, where he was coach for four years before departing in 2019. However, it didn’t get up to the best of starts, with Swedish winger Dejan Kulusevski putting the home team ahead inside the first six minutes.
The former Juventus man enjoyed a bit of luck as his low strike deflected off English defender Levi Colwill before wrongfooting Robert Sanchez in goal for Chelsea.
Jackson almost leveled the scores five minutes later, but his effort was clawed away by Italian goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario for a corner. Shortly after, Son Heung-min thought he had doubled Spurs’ lead as his close-range strike had beaten Sanchez, but the goal was ruled off as the South Korean forward was just offside.
The end-to-end action in the first half continued, and Raheem Sterling crept his way into Tottenham’s box before putting the ball into the back of the net on his second attempt. However, the former Manchester City forward’s joy was cut short as a VAR replay showed the ball had ricocheted into his arm from the initial block.
More drama unfolded in the derby as Moises Caicedo’s well-struck effort was ruled offside, with Jackson deemed to be blocking Vicario’s view. However, the resulting VAR check saw Chelsea awarded a penalty for a rash foul on Enzo Fernandez by Cristian Romero, who was immediately given his marching orders.
Cole Palmer converted the resulting penalty to draw Chelsea level in the 35th minute with a powerful strike, despite Vicario getting a solid hand on it.
Three away #PL wins on the spin! ????#TotChe pic.twitter.com/LU9fv5y4Fk
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) November 6, 2023
The second half began as heated as the first 45 minutes ended with an Italian-Nigerian full back. Destiny Udogie was sent off within ten minutes of the restart after he brought Sterling down and received his second booking.
With Ange Postecoglou’s side down to nine men, the Blues took control of the game, and Jackson should have gotten his first goal, but his header from close range failed to find the net.
The Senegalese forward finally got his name on the scoresheet 15 minutes from full time, sweeping in a well-weighted pass into the net past Vicario after he was teed up by Sterling, who kept on threatening Spurs’ backline.
Jackson got his brace four minutes into stoppage time, firing into the net from a pass from Connor Gallagher. He completed his hat-trick three minutes later, doing well to beat Tottenham’s highline after Palmer’s pass split their defense before rounding Vicario for the easiest of finishes.
Three Chelsea players have scored a Premier League hat-trick against Spurs:
???? Tore André Flo (1997)
???? Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (2002)
???? Nicolas Jackson (2023)The 21-year wait is over. pic.twitter.com/l3SB7da3Zw
— Squawka (@Squawka) November 6, 2023
The Teranga Lions forward, who has somewhat found life in the Premier League daunting, took his league tally to five goals and became the first Chelsea player to score a hat-trick against Tottenham in the Premier League since Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink did so in 2002.
Jackson’s goals helped the Blues to their fourth win in the league this season and their third straight Premier League away win as they moved up into the top half of the table from 13th position.
Tottenham, on the other hand, lost more than the three points attached to the game as they will be without Dutch defender Micky van de Ven, who was subbed off due to a hamstring injury; James Maddison, who limped off with an injury in the first half; and the dup of Romero and Udogie, who both saw red cards in the match.
