Jacob Steinberg was at Stamford Bridge tonight. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM.

Xabi Alonso’s turn to speak to Sky: “We are all disappointed with the result … collectively and individually we were not at our best level … the first goal went their way and with ten men it was difficult … we had to be patient and be mature … we can do better … we feel for everyone … we have to move on.”

Roberto de Zerbi talks to Sky Sports: “It was a big moment for the fans, the club and the players … they deserved this win, they prepared very well … we are improving a lot, we are improving in the mentality, in the group and the relationships … now it is a complete team … the players are playing better, we improved in the style … when we stay for dinner and stay together in the dressing room I see a different group, a different relationship and different atmosphere … if we work hard we can do something important … the atmosphere inside the dressing room is maybe more important than the tactics.”

Post-match postbag. “Tel’s goal was Son-esque. If he does a few more of these, Spurs fans will have a season to enjoy” – Kári Tulinius

“That Chelsea keeper should take comfort knowing that Kinsky had a terrible game at the start of his career too” – Tomasz Rykała

“Roberto De Zerbi is an outstanding manager. Tottenham seem to understand keeping the ball is the best way to control football matches. Credit goes to De Zerbi for discovering the tactic last seen under Pochettino and to lesser extent Ange as well. There are so many positive signs to look forward to after godawful last season. Finally!” – Yash Gupta

“Kids, did you enjoy show and Tel time at Stamford Bridge"?” – Peter Oh

Andy Robertson, wearing a proper cat-plus-cream grin, speaks to Sky Sports. “It’s obviously been a bit of a difficult start to the season … since we’ve come back from the internationals it’s been a different team … seven points out of the last nine … this team’s capable of doing a lot … now you’re starting to see us all click … thankfully we got the result we deserved … we had options … we were confident with the ball … moved them around … that was our most complete performance … the whole team did their job … it’s now up to us to be consistent … we know we should be higher up in the league … the fans have been through a tough time … so for them to get an away day like this, fair play to them … we have to give them more to shout about … this is the standard we have set ourselves.”

After two impressive wins in six days, Tottenham Hotspur are suddenly a mid-table concern … and under Roberto De Zerbi, look to be heading in only one direction. The signs tonight were extremely promising. Chelsea however hit some turbulence, having been throughly outplayed and outfought. They remain in fourth for now, but Liverpool, Brentford and Leeds could all leapfrog them tomorrow, and they’ll lose Cole Palmer for the upcoming League Cup tie at Anfield.

Mathys Tel speaks to Sky. “It is special because we came here a lot of times and didn’t get a win … today we made it together … we showed a great mentality … we created a lot of chances today … the goal is something special … I am very happy … let’s keep pushing now!”

The player of the match Mateus Fernandes – a new dad as well! - adds: “I arrived … these things take time … I was not at my best … I always believed in me and my team-mates … when we play like this, we are very happy … we deserved to win … we are here to change the mentality of the club … of the fans … we want to be the top team … we work every day … I work hard to be ready for when the manager wants me … I need to do much better.”

Tel gives Fernandes his award, and the pair enjoy a hug. A lovely moment between two players who had started the season slowly but have emerged in some style this evening.

Tottenham Hotspur were wonderful. The best team pretty much from the get-go. Everyone put in a shift, and Mathys Tel scored a wonder goal, though it’s Mateus Fernandes who leads all the stats, and is named player of the match by Gary Neville on Sky Sports. Spurs cavort on a ground where they’ve suffered so much misery in the past, and deserve their moment, and their flowers. Chelsea, whose second-half performance was as petulant as it was poor, have the good grace to leave the stage without further loss of temper. That’s a proper statement win for Roberto De Zerbi’s side, and one that takes them away from the banterzone. They’ve kick-started their season right here, in style. Xabi Alonso meanwhile has some thinking to do.

90 min +6: Spurs have been magnificent this evening. But Chelsea have helped by losing their heads so spectacularly in this second half. Palmer gone, Rogers should have been sent packing too. Looks like Xabi Alonso went a bit early with these quotes yesterday:

For me it comes a lot with emotional control, with the control of the game, If you are focused on what you have to do, you are prepared for what’s going on. Normally you don’t make that many mistakes and don’t overreact to certain situations.

This is a fundamental part of the game, to have that emotional control. The momentum is coming – we keep calm, I don’t lose my head and I don’t get stupid yellow cards, make stupid penalties.

Oh Xabi!

90 min +5: Three sides of Stamford Bridge have emptied out. Spurs fans are en fête. Olés as their team continue to ping the passes. How often do they get to party at Stamford Bridge like this? Not often, is how often. Just their third league win here in 37 years!

90 min +3: Spurs stroke it around the back, their work here complete. They’ve done a proper number on Chelsea tonight.

90 min +1: Rogers takes a frustrated swipe at Gallagher’s ankles. No intention to play the ball whatsoever. He’s booked, but should be walking too, for a really unpleasant challenge. The referee has been as lenient as Chelsea have been petulant in this second half.

90 min: There will be seven additional minutes.

89 min: Spurs also send on Kulusevski for Kudus.

88 min: That’s the end of Tel’s evening. He can’t top that! He makes way for Davies, as Spurs look to see out only their second league win at Stamford Bridge in 36 years!

85 min: … and nothing comes of the corner. But Spurs come again, through Kudus and Gallagher down the right. Gallagher’s shot from a tight angle is parried by Penders, and Tonali hoicks the rebound over.

84 min: Gallagher slips Tel into space down the left. Tel breezes into the box and he’s got three team-mates in the middle, but can’t get a cross away. Acheampong is able to divert the ball out for a corner, but that should have been more for Spurs.

82 min: Palmer has the chutzpah to question the decision. He could easily have seen a straight red twice. As it is, he’s walking for two yellows. Caicedo tries to start something with Gallagher, but Chelsea need to calm down here, because they’ve been outplayed, they’re losing, and they’re now down to ten, so it’s no time to throw a tanty. Nothing comes of the resulting free kick, anyway.

79 min: Neto is booked for dragging back an in-flight Porro.

78 min: That’s an absolute nightmare for the full debutant Penders, who is livid at his own mistake. He was under pressure from Van Hecke … but not that much pressure. A total howler, and Spurs have the lead their overall play this evening deserves! Can they hold on for only their second Premier League win here in 36 years?

76 min: Fernandes shoots; the shot’s deflected wide left for a corner. And from the set piece …

75 min: De Zerbi has been booked, by the way, presumably for having his say over the reluctance of the referee to send Palmer off for a fairly brazen aggressive act.

74 min: Estevao comes on for Quenda, and wastes little time in advancing down the right before ripping the side netting. “There’s a slightly old fashioned feel to this match I think, in keeping with the earlier Kinks reference,” writes Simon McMahon. “‘I like my football on a Saturday, roast beef on Sunday, all right.’ I might watch an episode of The Likely Lads later. Pint of mild, anyone?”

72 min: Fernandes is booked for the deliberate handball, Palmer for the barge. Palmer is extremely fortunate not to be sent off for his needlessly aggressive barge on the prone Fernandes. Hip on head. England internationals always seem to get away with a little bit more. He should have been sent off.

70 min: Kudus from the right this time. Solanke thinks about a bicycle kick, but opts out. Chelsea break down the right, Fernandes falling over and reaching out for the ball. Palmer comes back at him and, with Fernandes now on his knees, barges him back to the turf. That’s a really poor reaction.

69 min: Porro crosses deep from the right. Tel was free at the far stick, but the delivery is all wrong. Goal kick.

67 min: … and now Gallagher cops more abuse, for grabbing at Rogers and earning the first yellow card of the evening.

66 min: Gallagher sends a pea-roller through to Penders, causing some mild amusement among his old fans in the stand.

65 min: Chelsea replace Hato with Palestra, while Spurs send on Porro and Solanke for Robertson and the ineffective Marmoush.

64 min: Sky Sports are reporting that Maddison has a groin problem, rather than a recurrence of his knee issue. Small mercies.

62 min: Van de Ven makes up for his role in the Chelsea attack by powering a header clear.

61 min: Fernandes’s poor pass back to Van de Ven is snaffled by Neto, who combines with Palmer and shoots towards the bottom right. Kinsky saves. Corner to come.

59 min: Rogers and Palmer threaten to combine down the left, but Fernandes comes across to disrupt, eventually shepherding the ball out for a goal kick. The visitors in control again … but still there’s been no reward.

57 min: … Kudus clears everyone in the box with a godawful delivery. Still, Spurs have taken up in the second half where they left off in the first, playing most of the football.

56 min: Kudus probes down the right and wins a Spurs corner. From which …

54 min: On the touchline, Roberto De Zerbi blows his cheeks out in frustration as his main creative source limps off. But the show must go on. Tel wins a corner down the left, from which nothing comes. Penders makes a meal of claiming it, but does so eventually.

52 min: Maddison gets up and trudges off. Fingers crossed that’s not his troublesome knee playing up again. Hopefully everyone is simply taking every precaution given his injury history. But the poor man is so deflated. Gallagher, formerly of this parish, comes on in his place, to a mixed reception.

50 min: Aw man, this is hard to watch: Maddison, who has had so many injury problems, goes down and doesn’t get back up. A look of utter dejection on his face. He can’t continue.

48 min: Palmer advances down the right and goes over as he reaches the edge of the box. He wants a penalty, but there wasn’t any contact with the chasing Fernandes.

47 min: Chelsea have got a new sleeve sponsor tonight, by the way: Sokin. That seems a bit on the nose given the weather.

46 min: Chelsea are attacking the Shed end now. Spurs facing the Matthew Harding.

Spurs get the second half started. No changes. “Is there any rational explanation for the fact that these two teams have spent literally billions between them and yet are unable or unwilling to play someone at centre forward?” asks Stephen McCrossan, deploying rhetorical techniques I’ll be bound. “I mean I realise Joao Pedro is crocked but come on.”

There have already been three other Premier League matches today. Reports: we got ‘em.

Half-time postbag. “Are Spurs capable of the final ball? I can’t tell. And apparently Tel can’t either’ – Allan Castle

“Chelsea’s set-piece coach seems to like a gimmick. I’m hoping for a ‘fake tying my bootlace’ routine or a leapfrog multiple run-up ploy. But I quite like their tactic of defending corners with multiple players on the half-way line. Any team with shorter players who are bad at heading should copy it” – Andrew Goudie

“De Zerbi and Alonso are both soaked to the bone. It’s almost as if they’re using a Carrick brolly. You know, the kind that protects others but not yourself” – Peter Oh

45 min: There will be no additional time. It’s almost as though the referee has been dreaming of hot fluffy towels.

43 min: Hato slips a free kick down the Chelsea left for Neto, whose shot-cum-cross is snaffled easily enough by Kinsky. Both teams could do with the half-time whistle and a chance to reset.

41 min: Henderson doesn’t beat the first man, his old Liverpool mucker Robertson.

40 min: Caicedo snaffles a loose Van de Van upfield pass and sends Chelsea on the attack down the right, Rogers winning a corner. Henderson comes over to take …

39 min: The xG so far: Chelsea 0.15, Spurs 0.34. Goalless seems about right, then.

37 min: Palmer releases Rogers into the box on the left. Kinsky parries the low drive. Again the flag pops up for offside. Spurs now threatening to concede, having spent so long in the ascendency without reward. A story as old as time.

36 min: Kinsky’s awful pass out is intercepted by Neto, who tees up Henderson on the edge of the box. Henderson aims for the bottom right. Kinsky redeems himself with a fine save, then kicks away Neto’s attempt from a tight angle on the right. The flag pops up for offside.

34 min: The Stamford Bridge faithful are muttering pensively. Their side have been broadly awful. “That Marmoush effort should put a cap on the weekly promising first thirty minutes from Tottenham,” argues Sean Orlowicz. “Chelsea coast to a 2-0 win from here.”

32 min: Marmoush barges his way down the middle, having spun Lacroix with absurd ease. He slips in Tel, whose shot from an angle on the left is smothered by Penders. The flag goes up for offside anyway. Chelsea are being given the runaround at present. SPurs need to score when they’re so much on top.

31 min: Tel drives at Acheampong yet again. Acheampong looks around anxiously for support that doesn’t arrive. Tel reaches the box and finds Kudus on the underlap. Kudus squirts a shot from a tight angle straight into the hands of Penders.

30 min: Spurs should be leading. Robertson barrels down the left like it’s 2018 again. He one-twos with Tel, then cuts back for Marmoush, free on the penalty spot. Marmoush slams his shot straight at Penders, who should never be given the chance to make the save he makes. What a miss. What a run by Robertson, whose legs haven’t gone quite yet!

28 min: Robertson sends a speculative ball down the inside-left channel. Penders comes out of his box to clear, and does so, but not in a particularly convincing style, nearly slapping the ball into the path of Marmoush.

27 min: Spurs have enjoyed 70 percent of possession so far. They’ll be delighted with this so far.

26 min: Tel nips into the Chelsea box from the left but goes over Neto’s leg far too easily. He’s not getting the spot kick he wants. “It’s good to see each team playing in their first choice colours. A pleasant change.” Terry Monks, there, who can also speak for me.

25 min: Tel makes good down the left but nobody attacks the dangerous cross he delivers. He should go out for a pint with Palmer and swap war stories.

23 min: Marmoush takes Colwill’s knee in the coccyx. He’ll be fine to continue, but ooyah, oof, that’s gotta hurt. An understandable spot of rolling about before getting back to business.

22 min: Kinsky stands with the ball at his feet for a while, inviting some pressure before clearing. Spurs’ confidence is growing.

20 min: Maddison goes long down the left for Tel, whose mere presence forces Acheampong into the concession of a corner. The set piece finds Tel on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. He crosses long for Kudus, who takes the ball down on the other edge of the six-yard box and looks for the top left. He whips the shot wide and high. Had that been on target, Penders wasn’t getting there. It required a high-class finish, but it was a chance nonetheless.

18 min: Maddison bustles his way into the Chelsea box down the left, and has the opportunity to cross low, but hesitates and ends up running the ball out for a goal kick. Spurs may soon decide that their best means of defence is attack.

17 min: … and by way of illustrating that, Sky flash up a stat which shows Chelsea have already made 33 pressures in the Spurs final third.

16 min: One corner from the left leads to another. Kudus faffs around with the ball on the edge of his own area and nearly loses possession, which would be super-costly with three blue shirts lurking, but the ball fortunately deflects back to Kinsky. Spurs are beginning to struggle with the Chelsea press.

14 min: Neto refuses to give up a lost cause, closing down Fernandes near the right-hand corner flag. He steals the ball off the dozing Spurs midfielder, then feeds Palmer, who looks for the top-left corner with a curler. Kinsky is forced to tip out for a corner.

13 min: Chelsea butcher the free kick, Palmer trying to release Rogers into the box with a gentle wedge. It doesn’t work.

12 min: Tonali has a grab of Henderson’s shirt, then clanks into Quenda. A free kick in a central position, 30 yards out. Before it can be taken, Xabi Alonso takes the opportunity to call his keeper Penders over, giving him some beneficial advice. What’s he spotted?

11 min: Palmer looks long for Neto down the right. Robertson does very well to keep up in a footrace, and his eventual slide challenge pings back off the Chelsea man for a goal kick. Robertson smiles broadly, though you wouldn’t back him to win too many more of those races, not these days.

9 min: Spurs have started relatively confidently given their record at this ground: in the Premier League era, they’ve won here just once, losing on 22 occasions and drawing the other 11. Just the one win in 36 years! “I’ve just worked nonstop since 1pm and am knackered,” begins Kieran McKintosh. “A football match between two sides who are questionable defensively, and where Spurs are likely to lose, is just the tonic. Let’s have it! I would ask for a red card as well, but tomorrow’s 8pm tonic between Barcelona and Real Madrid has a healthy chance of delivering that too.”

7 min: This game is being played at 101 miles per hour on a very damp and slippery surface. Slapstick shenanigans could be in the post.

6 min: Kinsky’s poor clearance is intercepted and shuttled to Palmer down the right. Palmer crosses low; Quenda doesn’t make a run at the far stick. Had he done so, he might have had a tap-in.

5 min: … Tonali tries to bring the ball down on the edge of the D, but can’t control. Spurs very wasteful with their set pieces.

4 min: Palmer clips Maddison out on the left flank. Robertson takes the free kick, and smashes it into a one-man wall, clearly trying to catch Penders by surprise at his near post. Robertson’s team-mates, who had loaded the box waiting for the crossed ball, may want a word. But Spurs are able to settle for the first corner of the game. From which …

2 min: Chelsea are kicking towards the Matthew Harding end in this first half. That’s not their usual preference, so it’s 1-0 to Spurs in a very minor way.

Knees are taken – there’s no room for racism – and then Chelsea get the match started. Stamford Bridge is noisy. Stamford Bridge expects.

The teams take to the pitch. Chelsea in blue, Spurs in white, and it won’t be long before every shirt is soaking wet. Has the signature work of the Harry J All Stars ever been so apposite? We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.

Roberto De Zerbi also speaks to Sky. “James Maddison is a very important player … he brings personality, qualities, experience … a different position on the pitch … he’s a different player to Conor Gallagher or [Omar] Marmoush as a number ten … we have to find him in the right moment in the best position … [Dominic Solanke] felt fatigue after Coventry … I am lucky to have a big squad with many different solutions … so I took the decision [to rest him] but the game is 90 minutes.”

Xabi Alonso speaks to Sky Sports. “João Pedro felt something in training … it’s a disappointment … [Geovany] Quenda has many qualities … he attacks the space … a goal threat … he has been training well … he has been patient … this is a big game to make his debut as a starter … we want mobility … to be fluid … he has those qualities.”

The Talk. Some more scene-setting, courtesy of our fancy new(ish) column, which this week touches on Roberto De Zerbi’s confidence in Tottenham’s medical staff, and the Zen of Xabi.

The two 3pm kick-offs have finished. Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 while Fulham won 1-0 at Coventry City. Fourth-placed Chelsea can’t go anywhere tonight, up or down, unless they win by 14 goals; Fulham’s victory, coupled with Nottingham Forest’s point at Ipswich last night, has dumped Tottenham back in the bottom three, but a draw would take Spurs up to 15th, while a win would take them into 12th, or maybe even 11th if they go large to the tune of five goals. Some of this entry has got a bit silly, yes.

Autumn almanac. It’s tipping down at Stamford Bridge; it’s cold and windy; the clocks fall back tonight. Yes yes yes. Apologies for alluding to the work of a famous Arsenal fan in a Chelsea-Spurs live blog, but what can you do? The summer’s all gone.

Tottenham also make two changes to their starting line-up, after the 3-1 win over Coventry in the Monday Night Football. Mathys Tel and Mateus Fernandes are in; Dominic Solanke drops to the bench while Tosin Adarabioyo is absent altogether.

Chelsea make two changes to their starting XI following their 2-0 win at Everton last weekend. Geovany Quenda replaces the missing João Pedro up front, while in goal Mike Penders stands in for the stricken Emi Martinez.