Unorthodox Tottenham duo played their hearts out vs Chelsea – and will likely have to do it again

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Tottenham Hotspur obtained their first loss of the season last night.

In a game that had five disallowed goals, two red goals, four actual goals and drama galore – it was unfortunately former Tottenham Hotspur boss – Mauricio Pochettino who emerged victorious.

Goals from Cole Palmer and a Nicolas Jackson hat-trick were enough to cancel out a Dejan Kulusevski opener, but the 4-1 scoreline did not reflect the Spurs performance.

Ange Postecoglou‘s side fought valiantly in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Despite the two red cards and injuries to two key men – they were still right in the game up until the 94th minute.

Eric Dier and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg played their hearts out

The dismissals and unfortunate injuries led to a seriously strange Tottenham side taking the field for the remainder of the game, including a majorly unorthodox centre-back pairing of Eric Dier and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

This was Dier’s first game of the season and he put in a proper shift. He looked defensively astute considering his severe lack of game time and was also cruelly denied what was a quite brilliant equaliser.

Hojbjerg was arguably more impressive. He showed passion, fight and desire despite falling out of favour at the club this season. He also made a goal-line clearance which was particularly impressive.

They’ll likely have to do it again…

With Cristian Romero out for at least two games and Micky van de Ven‘s injury looking like a nasty one – Tottenham are now scarce at the back in regard to options.

This means that this unlikely partnership may now be one Spurs fans are forced to rely on for the Wolves and Aston Villa fixtures.

After this, Postecoglou’s men then visit the treble winners – Manchester City, in what is a huge game.

Thanks to the harsh nature of Romero’s challenge, his challenge could result in a three-match ban, meaning he’d also miss the fixture against the Cityzen’s.

Hojbjerg and Dier may have a lot of work on their hands in the coming weeks.