Tottenham Hotspur lost once again to Chelsea away at Stamford Bridge putting the Lilywhites' Champions League qualification bid in serious doubt.
Tottenham had won just one of its 31 trips to Stamford Bridge in the Premier League coming into the evening. The first half of the game was hectic and nervy, as you'd expect for a London derby and the outstanding storylines between the two. Nicolas Jackson had a golden opportunity to open the scoring early, but Mickey van de Ven made a goal-line clearance that nearly deflected off Cole Palmer into the net.
It was a 24th-minute header from Trevoh Chalobah that put the Blues in front. After multiple VAR checks, the goal stood. The second came in the 72nd minute after Cole Palmer nearly scored a wonderful free kick, but the rebound off the crossbar fell to Jackson who made up for his miss in the first half with a header. Chelsea climbed up to eighth with the win and Mauricio Pochettino doing the double over his former club.
Tottenham's third straight league loss means that fourth and final Champions League spot is looking more and more likely for Aston Villa. Spurs are seven points off Villa, though they do have a game in hand. At most, the lead can be cut to four points. Dropping any more points in the run-in would make the top four a foregone conclusion.
Aston Villa has Brighton and Hove Albion (away), Liverpool (home) and Crystal Palace (away) left in the season.
Tottenham has Liverpool (away), Burnley (home), Manchester City (home) and already-relegated Sheffield United (away) for the club's last four games. Missing out on Champions League would sting even more considering the consecutive losses to Newcastle United, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Chelsea on the other hand have hopes of squeaking in to a Europa League or Europa Conference League spot. Chelsea is just two points behind Newcastle, and three points behind Manchester United for 7th and 6th respectively.
While most of the attention has been on the most-exciting title race in quite some time, European qualification is going to come right down to the wire.
