Cole Palmer and Conor Gallagher came together in a soggy blur on the edge of the box, and, in the moment, no one around Stamford Bridge quite knew who had kicked what. But the reaction of the Tottenham players, rushing to the referee with arms outstretched, faces contorted in faux horror, told you everything you needed to know. Palmer had briefly inserted his studs into Gallagher’s ankle. Chris Kavanagh showed Palmer his second yellow card in seven minutes, and Chelsea’s chances disappeared with their No 10 down the tunnel.
Palmer had already been booked for ramming his thigh into the side of Mateus Fernandes’s head, after the Spurs midfielder deliberately handled the ball to scupper a counter-attack. It was the sort of malice you hear inside your own intrusive thoughts, but Palmer decided to act on them, and he could have been sent off there and then. It sparked a chaotic melee on the pitch and an angry skirmish between the dugouts.
