Spurs had won once in 34 Premier League trips to Stamford Bridge, and Penders’ punch and Palmer’s red card gave them a second
Tottenham beat ten-man Chelsea 2-0 in the rain at Stamford Bridge, with a Mike Penders own goal and a late Mathys Tel strike either side of Cole Palmer’s red card.
Oct 25, 2026
Tottenham had won once in 34 Premier League visits to Stamford Bridge before Saturday. Now it is twice. A Mike Penders own goal on 77 minutes and a Mathys Tel finish ten minutes later gave Roberto De Zerbi’s side a 2-0 win in driving rain, and Cole Palmer was sent off in between.
It was a second league win in five days for Spurs, after Monday’s 3-1 against Coventry, and it lifts them to 12th on nine points. Chelsea stay fourth on 13.
Alonso goes without a striker
João Pedro, Chelsea’s top scorer, was not in the matchday squad. Xabi Alonso did not hand the shirt to Danny Welbeck. He gave 19-year-old Geovany Quenda a first start instead and pushed Morgan Rogers through the middle, with Palmer drifting around him.
It never clicked. Spurs had about 70 per cent of the ball in the first half and the better chances, and Omar Marmoush should have scored from close range before Penders blocked him. Antonin Kinsky had work to do at the other end, saving from Palmer, Jordan Henderson and Rogers, but Chelsea were level at the break mainly because Tottenham’s finishing was poor.
Alonso kept the same shape for the second half. Spurs lost James Maddison to an injury in the 51st minute, Conor Gallagher came on, and they still looked the side more likely to score.
Penders’ punch, then Palmer’s second yellow
Penders was making his first Premier League start because Emiliano Martínez is out after surgery on a fractured jaw. The 21-year-old Belgian had been solid for three quarters of the game. Then Mateus Fernandes swung in a corner, Jan Paul van Hecke charged at it, and Penders’ punch went backwards over his own glove and into the net. According to Sky Sports, he is only the second Chelsea goalkeeper to score a Premier League own goal, after Petr Čech against Everton in 2009.
Palmer was already walking a line. Earlier in the half, after Fernandes had stopped one of his runs, Palmer barged into the Spurs midfielder while he was down, and both benches spilled onto the touchline. He got away with a yellow. A few minutes after the goal he planted his boot on Gallagher’s ankle chasing a loose ball and was shown a second.
Tel settled it on 87 minutes, carrying the ball from deep on the left, cutting inside and beating Penders with a low shot.
A first clean sheet there since 1986
Spurs had not won at Chelsea without conceding, in any competition, since December 1986, when the score was also 2-0. De Zerbi told Sky Sports his side are now “a complete team”. A week ago that would have sounded hopeful, given they opened the season with three defeats and three draws.
Alonso was blunter about his own side. Chelsea were not at their level, collectively or individually, he said, and Palmer’s red card, the first Chelsea have had this season, was one to learn from.
Chelsea go to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday and host Manchester United on 31 October. Spurs are not out again until the same day, at home to Crystal Palace.