Chelsea continued their unbeaten run against Tottenham Hotspur as they won 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium thanks to João Pedro’s strike, making it seven wins out of eight against Spurs in the Premier League.
The Blues returned back to winning ways after last week’s 2-1 loss to Sunderland, and Maresca made 10 changes to the side that won 4-3 at Wolves in the midweek Carabao Cup clash.
Bergvall suffered a concussion injury four minutes into the game after he took an accidental whack to the head and was replaced by Xavi Simons.
Chelsea had a penalty shout-out 10 minutes later when Enzo Fernandez’s cutbackpass hit Pedro Porro’s leg and went onto his arm, but referee Jarred Gillet waved away the appeals immediately.
Garnacho and Fernandez combined again after the latter flicked a pass infield to release Garnacho into a pocket of space, but the Argentine’s weak effort was saved by Vicario.
At the hour mark, João Pedro came close to opening the scoring after Garnacho found him inside the box, but the Brazilian effort was saved again by the legs of Vicario.
Spurs attacked straight up at the other end, but Mohammed Kudus’s shot went wide from just outside the area.
Moises Caicedo won possession twice before putting it on a plate for João Pedro to finish into the top corner to give the visitors the deserved lead.
Spurs had the chance to go level through Kudus deep into stoppage time, but the Ghanaian’s curling shot was parried away brilliantly by Sanchez to preserve Chelsea’s lead going into the break.
The visitors’ dominance continued after the break as Caicedo set Fernandez on his way, beating Spurs’ press, but the Argentine’s shot was collected by Vicario low to his left.
The Blues had three chances in quick succession to double their advantage as Fernandez headed Reece James’ well-placed cross over the bar, Neto saw his effort saved again and moments later, the Portuguese couldn’t keep the ball down from close range.
Maresca’s men went close again just over a quarter of an hour to go after Gittens’ pass to João Pedro was flicked into Enzo’s path, and his pass was followed by a powerful strike from Neto from a tight angle which was palmed away, and James blasted over the rebound.
In injury time, Gittens could have sealed it for the visitors after play started from Estevao, who found João Pedro with a beautiful pass, and the Brazilian laid it off for Gittens, but he blasted his shot well over.
João Pedro could have scored his second of the night but was met with an outstanding save by Vicario from close range.
The Blues move up to fourth position in the Premier League standings and make a long trip to Qarabag in the Champions League on Wednesday night.