Tottenham cranked up the pressure on Graham Potter as Oliver Skipp's first goal for the club and Harry Kane's late strike secured a 2-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday.
Potter's position has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks after a torrid run of form, and that looks set to intensify after yet another miserable defeat.
The Blues failed to take advantage of a reprieve shortly before half-time when Hakim Ziyech's red card was overturned following a VAR review, with Skipp powering home immediately after the restart.
Kane added a second in the 82nd minute to move Spurs four points clear of Newcastle United, although the Magpies have two games in hand. Chelsea remain in 10th – a whopping 14 points adrift of the Champions League qualification places.
Chelsea's plans took a hit in the 19th minute when Thiago Silva was forced off after sustaining an injury as he thwarted Harry Kane inside the penalty area.
Spurs went agonisingly close to taking the lead shortly before the half-hour mark when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's effort from the edge of the area was deflected onto the base of the post.
Chelsea momentarily thought they had been reduced to 10 men in first-half stoppage time when Ziyech received a red card for striking Emerson Royal in the face, but his punishment was downgraded to a caution following a pitch-side review by referee Stuart Attwell.
Spurs started the second half in electric fashion, grabbing the opener 19 seconds after the restart thanks to Skipp's thunderous strike from 20 yards that crashed in off the underside of the crossbar.
Kane then made sure of victory inside the closing 10 minutes with a simple back-post finish from a corner.
What does it mean? Chelsea's dire season goes on
Chelsea's dismal run continued at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with the Blues now having won just two of their past 15 Premier League matches.
They rarely looked like finding the back of the net here and have now scored just once in their past six games in all competitions.
Spurs, meanwhile, have won three consecutive Premier League home games without conceding for the first time since April 2019. That previous run was their first three matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Speedy Skipp
Skipp's sublime strike 19 seconds into the second half was the earliest such goal in a Premier League game since Gerard Deulofeu for Watford against West Ham in May 2019 (45:11).
Ziyech struggles
Ziyech endured a game to forget. He can consider himself fortunate to have seen his red card overturned, given he did make contact with Emerson's face. Potter hauled him off just after the hour mark anyway after failing to make a single key pass.
What's next?
Tottenham travel to Sheffield United for an FA Cup fifth-round clash on Wednesday, while Chelsea host Leeds United in the Premier League on Saturday. It remains to be seen whether Potter will be in charge for that.
Liverpool line up Feyenoord coach Slot as Klopp replacement
Arne Slot appears to be at the front of the queue to replace Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager.
Klopp confirmed in January that he would be leaving the Reds at the end of the season.
Xabi Alonso, who has led Bayer Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title, was swiftly established as a leading candidate to take the helm at Anfield, where he starred as a player for the Reds between 2004 and 2009.
The 42-year-old, however, is staying put in Germany, and Liverpool's search for Klopp's successor has taken them to Feyenoord's door.
Slot has been previously linked to jobs in the Premier League. Leeds United wanted to appoint him last season before their relegation to the Championship, while he was targeted by Tottenham before they appointed Ange Postecoglou.
The Dutchman intimated when linked with Spurs: "A normal next step would be to go abroad and I've always said that the best league in the world is the Premier League."
Ideally, Liverpool will be aiming for a coach who can come close to replicating Klopp's style of play, and in particular has a flair for working with and developing young players.
Slot has enjoyed fantastic success in Rotterdam. He became Feyenoord head coach in December 2022, after leaving AZ, and went on to win the Eredivisie title in 2022-23, having reached the Europa League final in the previous season.
The 45-year-old has a 64.4 per cent win record from 146 games in charge, winning 94, drawing 29 and losing just 23.
His Feyenoord team have scored 329 goals, an average of 2.2 per match, conceding 147 in return. Slot's points per game is a hugely impressive 2.13.
Feyenoord are, though, set to relinquish their Eredivisie crown, as they trail leaders PSV by nine points. They have, however, won the KNVB Cup this term.
As there is no break clause in the Dutchman's contract, it has been reported that a compensation fee in the region of €10million (£8.5m) could prise him away from Feyenoord.
Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorim is another coach who has been heavily linked with the Liverpool job, albeit he is reportedly in talks with West Ham.
Grant McCann hails ‘outstanding’ response as Doncaster close on play-off spot
Grant McCann was a proud man after Doncaster won 4-1 at Colchester to register a 10th straight victory and move into the play-off places.
Colchester took a ninth-minute lead through Jayden Fevrier, who converted Tom Hopper’s cross at the far post, but remain in relegation danger after Rovers’ emphatic comeback.
Luke Molyneux equalised after collecting Jamie Sterry’s short free-kick and scoring with a low 25-yard shot and Doncaster took a 22nd-minute lead through Harrison Biggins, who netted from close range from Molyneux’s delivery.
Tom Anderson netted a third in the 76th minute at the near post from Hakeeb Adelakun’s pass, and Joe Ironside sealed victory when he converted after Sam Hornby had tipped James Maxwell’s shot onto a post.
A point on the final day against Gillingham will seal a play-off spot regardless of results elsewhere and McCann said: “I’m really proud.
“Obviously conceding early wasn’t ideal for us but the response was outstanding.
“We scored two very good goals, the first one from Mols (Molyneux) and the second one was another very good goal and something we knew could help us in the game, Biggo’s (Biggins) runs from the centre circle in between the posts after good play by Mols.
“In the first half, we were a little bit edgy and it was a little bit even Steven in the game.
“But in the second half, we were really comfortable and scored another couple of really good goals.
“We always play for more goals; we never sit tight and take what we’ve got – that’s just the way we like to go about things.
“We came up against a team that’s obviously down the wrong end of the table and we knew it was going to be tough.”
Fevrier had Colchester on track to secure survival but they go into Saturday’s final game just three points above the drop zone, with their goal difference superior by four over Sutton.
Colchester boss Danny Cowley said: “It was a tough night for us.
“We have the ability to self-harm, to self-destruct, in a game where we let four terrible goals in.
“For 75 minutes, it was 2-1 and they’ve had three shots at goal, two from 30 yards, and somehow they’re winning the game.
“We were 2-1 down at half-time where we felt we shouldn’t have been, as we’d done a lot right.
“We were in total ascendency and they don’t even want to score any more goals, they want to hang onto what they’ve got and we gift them another two goals.
“I’ve just looked back at the goals and they’re very hard to defend.
“We actually played well box to box but you can’t say you’ve played well when we’ve conceded the goals that we have.
“It’s a damaging night and I’m really angry. We just did the basics so poorly.”
Barrow must stick together in quest to secure play-off spot – Pete Wild
Barrow boss Pete Wild stressed his side must stick together to secure a League Two play-off spot on the final day of the season.
The Bluebirds suffered a fifth defeat in a painful six-game winless run with a last-gasp 2-1 loss to Bradford.
It means they have to get a result when they host promoted Mansfield on Saturday.
Bobby Pointon opened the scoring with a great strike in the first half before Kian Spence levelled with a free-kick after the break.
But former on-loan Barrow forward Tyler Smith came off the bench to score a bruising stoppage-time winner against his old club.
And Wild said: “We didn’t do anything with or without the ball. We were frustrated at half-time. I told them ‘we’ve got to have a go and try to get over the line’.
“We played really well second half, had a go, came out fighting and got the goal, but it wasn’t enough.
“We were on the front foot. We kept trying to throw subs on to put impetus into the game and you get hit by a sucker punch at the end.
“We had four chances to clear the ball and that’s been the month hasn’t it. There have been key moments in game, chances and opportunities with the football and we’ve not done that.
“We weren’t getting a glove on them and we had to try and be braver, second half.
“I will never make it about them, it’s about us. We’re all a collective. We will win together and lose together and that’s how we’ve gone through the season.
“What we have to do now is just stick together and try to keep going.
“Across the last four games you have seen glimpses of us, but not enough of us across a full 90 minutes to get over the line.”
The Bantams were indebted to Sheffield-born Smith’s late winner for their fourth-straight win.
Boss Graham Alexander said: “I’m pleased that the players have once again showed character and personality to once again get a win from a game we should never have been drawing anyway.
“We were brilliant in the first half and should have been two or three up. But we weren’t and a good team like Barrow are going to come back into it and have a spell of pressure and momentum.
“Ultimately they got a goal from it. From our perspective it’s a poor one to concede going through the wall.
“Our performance became a bit flat after that. They had real quality and gained chances.
“The subs that came on halted their momentum.
“They were going for it as well and it was going to be (down to) who had that quality to score.
“To be fair to Tyler, he would have been under massive pressure in his own head, but he stuck it in the corner so fair play to him.”
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